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UBS may scale down London offices after axing hundreds
19.06.09
UBS, which has axed hundreds of jobs in its London investment banking hub at Broadgate, is considering reducing the office space it leases there.
The bank is also looking for consent to build on land it owns across the street, sources told Bloomberg. Its plans to reduce its space could jeopardise attempts by the Broadgate owner British Land to sell a stake in the site. Broadgate is British Land's biggest single asset and provided about a third of its rental income last year.
UBS rents more than 860,000 sqft at the enormous complex near Liverpool Street station. It has the right to leave four buildings there by 2013 and 2014. It is reported to have contracted broker Jones Lang LaSalle to review its options.
British Land said yesterday that it planned to sell a stake in Broadgate. Analysts warned that attempts to find a buyer would be hampered by uncertainty over UBS's future commitment as well as the fact that the 15-year-old development needs tens of millions of pounds of investment in the coming years.
Earlier this year it raised £1 billion to bolster its balance sheet.
