British Land sharpens focus on office and fulfilment spaces with new deals

(Reuters) -British Land is sharpening its focus on office campuses and retail and fulfilment projects through recent acquisitions and sales of properties worth 350 million pounds ($480.97 million), the UK commercial landlord said on Thursday.

Acquisitions include the purchase of Peterhouse Technology Park, which houses the headquarters of British chip designer Arm, and the Priestley Centre, as an economic reopening aided by a steady vaccine roll out generates the need for office spaces.

"Leasing activity at our London campuses has been strong, with a significant amount of space going under offer to a broad range of occupiers in the last two months," Chief Executive Simon Carter said.

A pandemic-induced surge in online shopping has driven up the need for fulfilment centres and faster transport of goods in urban areas, which the company aims to tackle with its purchases of Finsbury Square Car Park and Thurrock Shopping Park announced in July.

The company, which owns a mixture of offices and malls, said it had sold or have under offer around 160 million pounds of assets, including a residential building and a gym.

($1 = 0.7277 pounds)

(Reporting by Aditi Sebastian in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)