Legal & General Capital seeds $4 billion life science and technology platform

Legal & General Capital (LGC) has announced a 50:50 partnership with US based real estate developer Ancora to create a real estate platform dedicated to driving life science, research and technology growth across the US.

LGC will invest an initial $500 million of seed capital to form a new company, Ancora L&G, operating under the name Ancora, the business’s geographic focus will sit predominantly within emerging regional markets in the US where early mover advantages are available.

The project builds on Ancora’s and LGC’s success which includes more than $5 billion currently committed to science and technology development projects at Oxford and Manchester universities.

“While the US is the world’s largest commercial real estate market, the lab real estate market in particular is one of the smallest sectors among other commercial US asset classes,” said Sir Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General Group.

“This lack of scale creates high barriers to entry for investors and has made it particularly challenging for tenants to grow due to scarcity of supply.

“LGC’s ability to access this opportunity via Ancora will set it apart from other sources of institutional capital seeking to participate in the market.”

Over the next five years, LGC will deliver £3.2 billion of existing pipeline and planned acquisition and development activity. It will also seek third party co-investment partners to accelerate scaling the portfolio.