Legal & General has backed investments of over £1 billion in East London in 2016.
It has already invested over £8 billion in UK infrastructure; housing and urban regeneration and SME finance, and is on track to invest £15 billion.
In East London, Legal & General’s investments include:
- Transport for London’s new £246 million headquarters in Stratford;
- Build to rent flats in Walthamstow, in partnership with PGGM, creating over 400 homes;
- Forward funding of 445 rooms for Queen Mary University of London students in Stratford for £63 million;
- DP World’s London Gateway port, with the Pension Protection Fund for £400m;
- Amazon’s new fulfilment centre at Tilbury.
Legal & General invests in infrastructure to secure long-term income for pensioners and returns for shareholders. Infrastructure investment delivers a higher risk adjusted return than gilts and low yielding bonds, it boosts UK economic growth, which benefits UK business and society.
Kerrigan Procter, managing director of Legal & General Retirement, said: “East London is a great place to invest. We have invested over a £1 billion of long-term capital in new assets, and are looking at many more opportunities here, and across the UK. Our direct investments are economically and socially useful, with every £1 invested in physical infrastructure generating around £3 of local economic activity.
“In a world where over $10 trillion of government bonds earn negative returns, our direct investments create local economic growth, income for pensioners, and returns for shareholders. The UK needs new infrastructure, if it’s going to grow and prosper in the 21st century, and we are helping to fund and deliver it.”
The Transport for London building, is at the International Quarter in Stratford, and is part of the wider regeneration of the area, which is anticipated to create over 40,000 jobs and 11,000 new homes in the coming years. The Walthamstow build to rent development is scheduled for completion in 2018, and is part of Legal & General’s partnership with PGGM, the Dutch pension fund manager, to invest £600m in build to rent homes and create a new institutional asset class. The 26-storey student accommodation development is pre-let to Queen Mary University of London and is being built on the site of a former petrol station on Stratford High Street.
The DP World’s London Gateway port is the UK’s first new port in over two decades, and is situated on the Thames estuary at Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. Since the start of construction, London Gateway has already created thousands of jobs in London and the South East, and is helping London to regain its premier position as one of the world’s largest ports. The Amazon new fulfilment centre at Tilbury, will create 1,500 jobs and be completed during 2017.