Press Release

THE CROWN ESTATE PURCHASE PRIME RETAIL PROPERTY IN CENTRAL BIRMINGHAM

1 March 2006

The Crown Estate are delighted to announce that they have acquired the virtual freehold of 140-145 New Street in Birmingham for £21.75m which represents a net initial yield of 4.08%. Terms were agreed with the vendors, CCLA Investment Management Limited on behalf of The Local Authorities’ Mutual Investment Trust (LAMIT) in mid-January with simultaneous exchange and completion only four weeks later.

The site is in the heart of the retail area of central Birmingham which is the UK’s second highest ranked retail centre following the opening of the Bullring, with a retail catchment in excess of 6 million people.

The property occupies a prime location within the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Birmingham at the intersection of New Street and High Street and acts as a natural extension to the Bullring. It has a total floor space of 22,747 sq ft, which is split into four units currently let to Adidas, Royal Bank of Scotland, Schuh and Jade.

This purchase represents The Crown Estate’s investment strategy in action, which is seeking to maximise the potential of existing core holdings and making judicious disposals and acquisitions to secure good long-term financial performance across its £5 billion portfolio.

Commenting on the sale, Paul Hannam of CCLA Investment Management said “LAMIT has owned the building since 1976 and strategically entered into a JV with Hammerson to unlock the latent value. Over the last seven years the property has shown 9% per annum capital growth and has consistently outperformed the IPD Market Performance measures due to active asset management”.

Jim Yates, Head of the Regional Portfolio at The Crown Estate, said, “It is fantastic that we have been able to acquire a prime retail asset in central Birmingham, a location which our research indicates will provide outstanding rental growth over the next few years as the City continues to benefit from the full impact of the Bullring scheme.”

King Sturge advised CCLA whilst CB Richard Ellis and S-T Camplin Bianco acted for The Crown Estate. The lawyers were, respectively, Lovells and Burges Salmon.