Exclusive: UKTI To Unveil £8bn Battersea Deal

The Government will tomorrow launch plans for an £8bn redevelopment of London's Battersea Power Station, kickstarting a wave of trade deals timed to coincide with the opening of the Olympic Games.

I have learned that UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will announce the proposals for a redevelopment of the site by its prospective new Asian owners.

Battersea Power Station, which has been the subject of myriad failed redevelopment plans during the last two decades, took the first step towards a sale several weeks ago when administrators at Ernst & Young agreed a £400m deal with a consortium comprising SP Setia, Sime Darby and the Employees' Pension Fund of Malaysia.

The £8bn figure will relate to the final gross development value of the site, which will include a major extension to the London Underground, as well as hotels, residential and retail property.

The current planning consent has provision for 3,500 homes and 1.7 million square feet of office space, as well as for hotel and retail units. It will also provide London with two new Underground (Other OTC: UGSI.PK - news) stations, extensions from the Northern line.

Ministers see the Battersea announcement as an ideal platform from which to launch the Government's Global Investment Conference, which will take place in central London tomorrow. A number of other business and trade deals are also expected to be announced.

The Battersea Power Station consortium entered into a joint venture agreement this month to form the Battersea Project Holding Company Limited (BPHCL). Sime Darby and SP Setia each has a 40 per cent stake in BPHCL, while the EPF has the remaining 20 per cent.

The deal is not expected to complete until early September.

UKTI and spokesmen for the Malaysian owners declined to comment.