Home Commercial Property Malaysian firm wins Battersea bidding

Malaysian firm wins Battersea bidding

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7th Jun 12 2:42 pm

A Malaysian company has won the bidding for Battersea Power Station ahead of Chelsea Football Club.

The iconic 39-acre Wandsworth site will be sold for £400m to SP Setia and Sime Darby after it triumphed over 14 other bidders to secure an exclusivity agreement.

The west London football club, which revealed last month it wanted to transform the Grade II listed building in to “one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world”, was among them.

SP Setia and Sime Darby revealed that their “multi-use real estate regeneration project” had been successful in a release to the Malaysian stock exchange on Thursday morning.

The plans, which also include the construction of a new London Underground station on the Northern Line, represent the company’s first move into Europe, following on from residential schemes in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

A statement from Ernst & Young confirmed that the Malaysian bidder had been successful.

It read: “Following an extensive global marketing campaign, undertaken by Ernst & Young Real Estate Corporate Finance and Knight Frank LLP, the Joint Administrators are pleased to announce that on Wednesday 6 June 2012 they entered into an exclusivity agreement with SP Setia and Sime Darby and are working towards a timely exchange and completion of the site and associated land.”

Although a 28-day period of due diligence will now follow, Chelsea’s hopes of occupying one of the capital’s most famous landmarks are seemingly over.

The club is considering leaving its current home, Stamford Bridge, which has a capacity of 42,000, as it looks for ways to compete with the matchday revenue picked up by other Premier League rivals with much larger stadiums.

Chelsea’s plan for Battersea would have seen the development of a 60,000-seater ground that would have still featured the power station’s four chimneys. The club has also been linked with other sites in south-west London.

Wandsworth Council leader Ravi Govindia said he is happy with the administrators’ decision over Battersea.

“There is still some way to go but this is potentially very good news. The power station is one of the biggest development opportunities in Nine Elms and key to extending the Northern Line into Battersea,” he said.

“We’re making tremendous progress towards transforming this old industrial stretch of the South Bank which will provide up to 25,000 new jobs for London.

“It’s important that this site and its iconic building are not left behind and that a developer is brought in who understands our vision for the new Nine Elms.”

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