As the only organisation to register property sales throughout England and Wales, Land Registry is in a unique position to provide an overview of the property market in 2011.
As Land Registry approaches its 150th anniversary in 2012, it marks a century and a half of safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property,

Hammerson plc has acquired a 999-year leasehold (virtual freehold) interest in 99 Bishopsgate, London EC2, from PRUPIM acting on behalf of the Prudential Assurance Company Ltd for £100 million, including costs.
99 Bishopsgate is a 26-storey tower providing 31,500m2 of office accommodation in the centre of the City of London. It is occupied by a number

Bosideng International Holdings Limited, the largest down Apparel Company in China, announced that it has acquired a property at 28 South Molton Street near the Oxford Street shopping area in the West End of London at a consideration of HK$240 million.
The property will be turned into the Group’s down apparel and menswear flagship store and

Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity investment firm, Thursday announced the acquisition of JSM Property Management (JSM) by its portfolio company, Leaders Lettings, the UK’s largest dedicated residential lettings and property management agency.
JSM is the leading specialist lettings agency in East Anglia, with six branches, in Cambridge, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Woodbridge and Norwich.
Since Bowmark backed the

GVA is to acquire Humberts Leisure, a leading UK leisure property specialist. GVA will complete the acquisition of the business later this month, creating one of the UK’s strongest leisure offers.
The new leisure unit, to be named GVA Humberts Leisure, will bring together the specialist leisure advisory expertise of Humberts Leisure, GVA’s existing hotels and

Hammerson plc has reached an agreement for the acquisition of a portfolio of six assets from St. Martins Property Investments Limited. The investment is for a consideration of £208 million. Hammerson’s initial commitment, including transaction costs, is £221 million. Passing rents on the properties are £17.2 million, and after taking account of vacancy charges and

Highcross has acquired a portfolio of four regional office buildings located in Preston, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull for a transaction consideration of £9 million. The deal reflects a net initial yield of 12.53 per cent. The acquired portfolio totals 118,806 sq ft and is let to 27 tenants including Hewlett Packard, Lloyds Banking Group, Big

UK Commercial Property Trust announced it had purchased St. George’s Retail Park, Leicester, from a fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management. The transaction is pegged at 49.9 million pounds. UK Commercial Property Trust is managed by Ignis Real Estate.
St. George’s Retail Park is an Open A1 retail park (with food) prominently located within Leicester

Grainger plc has acquired 100 per cent of HI Tricomm Holdings Limited together with related subordinated loan notes and the settlement of other balances, announced the firm Friday. Grainger acquired HI Tricomm from Invista Castle Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Invista Real Estate Investment Management Holdings plc, for a total consideration of £18.5 million.
Grainger plc

Sahara India’s subsidiary Aamby Valley announced it had bought London’s Grosvenor House Hotel from the Royal Bank of Scotland for 470 million pounds, approx Rs.3,300 Crore. The acquisition is expected to enable Sahara group establish its foothold in the international luxury hotel market. It plans to add restaurants, including Indian restaurant Namak, a business centre,