Great Portland Estates

Great Portland Estates plc
Company typePublic
IndustryProperty
Founded1959
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Richard Mully (Chairman)
Toby Courtauld (CEO)
RevenueIncrease £91.2 million (2023)[1]
Decrease £(158.5) million (2023)[1]
Decrease £(163.9) million (2023)[1]
Websitewww.gpe.co.uk

Great Portland Estates plc (branded as GPE) is a British property development and investment company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007.

History

GPE was founded by Howard and Basil Samuel in 1959 to invest in properties originally developed by the Dukes of Portland.[2] It was listed on the London Stock Exchange later that year.[3] It acquired the Ilex Estate in 1997.[4] In 2007 the company converted into a real estate investment trust.[5]

In April 2018 it was announced that KKR would be taking up 57,000 square feet of space in GPE's new office development in Hanover Square. The move was the biggest single deal in Mayfair for a decade.[6][7]

Great Portland Estates was rebranded to GPE in November 2021.[8]

Operations

GPE is based in London and the great majority of its assets are in London. It mainly owns office buildings, with a smaller amount of retail property. The largest group of properties is in the Marylebone district of Central London just to the north of Oxford Street, in and around Great Portland Street. The company also owns properties in the West End such as the West side of Hanover Square[9] and in the City of London such as the Bloomberg Headquarters.[10]

At 31 March 2023 Great Portland Estate's property portfolio was valued at circa £1.9 billion.[1]

See also

Head office at Cavendish Square, London (the tall building on the left)

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). Great Portland Estates. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Business - The Times". The Times. Archived from the original on July 23, 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ^ "2010 - present - Great Portland Estates". gpe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Great Portland offers £96m for Pollen Estate". Property Week. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Best may be over in dash by companies to convert to REITs". Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. ^ Burke, Tim. "KKR lets new London headquarters over Bond Street Crossrail station". Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  7. ^ "KKR to invade Mayfair with new London headquarters". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  8. ^ "Great Portland Estates brand evolves to GPE". Property Magazine. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Hanover Square - London Masterplan - e-architect". e-architect. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Great Portland Estates hikes rents; warns of Brexit". Financial Times. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.