Rothesay shield for Awesome O2 Arena

Image: The O2 Arena, Krokodyl, CC BY-SA 3.0

The long-term lease to The O2 Arena, London’s (UK) best-known live entertainment venue, has been sold to Britain’s biggest pensions insurance specialist.

‘sky news’ stated that it is understood that a deal was signed recently for Rothesay, the title sponsor of England’s home Test cricket matches, to acquire the landmark’s 999-year lease for about £90m.

The 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multipurpose indoor arena in the center of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in Southeast London, England (UK). It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom behind the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live Arena and the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena and in 2008 was the world’s busiest music arena.

Rothesay is the United Kingdom’s largest pensions insurance specialist purpose-built to protect the pension schemes and their members’ pensions. With over £70 billion of assets under management they secure the pensions of more than one million people and pay out, on an average, approximately £300 million in pension payments each month.

‘sky news’ further stated that the agreement, which is likely to be announced within days, comes more than two months after it was reported that Rothesay was the frontrunner to clinch a deal.

Rothesay has become one of Britain’s most successful specialist insurers having been established in 2007.

It now protects the pensions of more than one million people in Britain and makes more than £300m in pension payouts every month.

The auction of The O2 Arena lease kicked off several months ago when the Cambridge University’s (a prestigious public research university located in Cambridge, England) wealthiest college, Trinity, instructed the advisers to launch a sale process.

The Trinity College, which ranks among Britain’s biggest landowners, acquired the site in 2009 for a reported £24m.

The O2 Arena which shrugged off its ‘white elephant’ status in the aftermath of its disastrous debut as the Millennium Dome in 2000 has since become one of the world’s leading entertainment venues.

Operated by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) it has played host to a wide array of music, theatrical and sporting events over nearly a quarter of a century.

From the epic concerts to the premier music festivals to the heart-stopping sporting events the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has been giving the world a reason to cheer for more than 20 years. Headquartered in Los Angeles (US) they are the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company and operate on five continents entertaining over 160 million guests annually through its worldwide network of more than 300 venues, the powerful sports franchises and the music brands, the integrated entertainment districts, and the global sponsorship activations.

The Trinity College, which was founded by Henry VIII in 1546, bought The O2 Arena lease from Lend Lease and Quintain, the property companies that had taken control of the Millennium Dome site in 2002 for nothing.

Barangaroo (Australia)-based Lendlease is Australia’s leading real estate business with an international investments platform. They are the City shapers, the asset creators and the trusted partners.

Quintain is a British-based property investment and development business which operates through Urban Regeneration, Mixed-Use and Build-to-Rent in Wembley Park (a vibrant area in Northwest London known for its iconic venues, shopping, dining, and entertainment options) with headquarters in London. The Wembley Park now has over 5,000 homes and 3,650 are managed by the Quintain Living for build-to-rent.

In a joint statement issued the Rothesay and the Trinity College Cambridge said they were “pleased to confirm that Rothesay will be the long-term owner of The O2 Arena following a competitive auction process for the lease of this London landmark”.

A spokesperson for Rothesay said separately, “The prestigious and high-quality property assets like The O2 Arena form an important part of Rothesay’s investment strategy providing the predictable and dependable returns which create real security for the one million-plus pensions we protect.”

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