Press Release

THE CROWN ESTATE SELLS HOBHOUSE COURT FOR £34.5 MILLION

15 September 2006

The Crown Estate has exchanged on a deal to sell Hobhouse Court in St James’s, central London for £34.5 million. This is the latest deal as part of The Crown Estate’s strategy of rebalancing its office portfolio.

Hobhouse Court is a mixed-use site of 12 buildings (89,330 sq ft), comprising offices, retail space, educational institutions and residential. Total income is £888,725 per annum.

Giles Clarke, Director of Investment and Asset Management at The Crown Estate, said: “We have been actively rebalancing our property portfolio and this has included the sale of non-core offices in central London. The Heads of Terms were agreed in mid-August and I’m very pleased that our team has worked so swiftly to exchange on a complicated deal. It demonstrates that The Crown Estate is open for business.”

Charles Gardner, Head of Offices at The Crown Estate added: “We had a large amount of interest for this site and the number of interested bidders and the final price we have achieved, reflect the current very strong office market.”

For the sale of Hobhouse Court, Knight Frank acted on behalf of The Crown Estate and legal advice was provided by SJ Berwin.