British Land (LSE:BLND) has announced an agreement to acquire Life Science REIT (LSE:LABS) in a transaction valuing the specialist property trust at £150 million. The offer represents a 21% premium to LABS’ closing share price of 35.4 pence.
Under the terms of the deal, Life Science REIT shareholders will receive 42.8 pence per share, comprising 14.1 pence in cash and 0.07 new British Land shares. The consideration implies a 15% premium to LABS’ three-month volume-weighted average price of 37.3 pence, while also reflecting a 26% discount to its EPRA Net Tangible Assets of 57.7 pence as at 31 December.
The board of Life Science REIT has unanimously recommended the offer, and British Land has already secured irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing 31.1% of the issued share capital. On completion, LABS investors are expected to hold around 2.4% of the enlarged British Land group and should be eligible to receive British Land’s final dividend for FY26.
Life Science REIT’s property portfolio is valued at £332.6 million and generates annual rent of £26.5 million. The assets are concentrated across five properties, including a £27 million development at Oxford Technology Park that has been affected by delays linked to costly design changes. The scheme is being reconfigured from large-format units into smaller spaces, which have so far seen weaker leasing demand.
In addition, a property at Cambourne is being reclassified to secondary business park status. Both the Oxford Technology Park and Cambourne assets are located roughly 10 miles from the centres of Oxford and Cambridge respectively, factors that have weighed on recent valuations.
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