Timeline

Home/Reuben Brothers/Timeline

•   Reuben Brothers
  • Timeline
  • Advisors
•   Investments
  • Aviation
    • London Oxford Airport
    • London Heliport
  • British Racing
  • Global Switch
  • LUUP
  • RB Resources
    • RB Metalloyd
    • RB Oil
    • Wind Farm Investments
  • Other Investments
    • Kyp
    • Real Imaging
    • Rainbow Medical
    • Spirit Pubs
    • Travelodge
  • Wellington Pub Co.
•   Real Estate
  • Real Estate Holdings
  • Retail Holdings
  • Developments / Refurbishments
  • Joint Venture Holdings
  • Data Centres

Whilst there have been numerous transactions, the more significant of these are:

2012

• April 2012, London Oxford Airport now ranks among the top five business aviation airports in the UK, according to latest Eurocontrol statistics. Over the five years since it was acquired by the Reuben Brothers in 2007, London Oxford Airport has experienced substantial growth with its daily business aircraft departures increasing 116.67% - making it the fastest growing of any business aviation airport in the UK.
• March 2012, Reuben Brothers completed the purchase of Arena Leisure, the publicly listed owner of seven racecourses in the UK including Doncaster, Royal Windsor and Lingfield Park.
• March 2012, Significant progress has been made with the Merchant Square development scheme in Paddington, Central London, which Reuben Brothers own in a 50:50 partnership with the Jarvis family. Following the launch of Building 3 off plan in the Far East in November 2011, pre-sales of 61 apartments have already been achieved at record rents for Paddington. Construction is now underway and the building will provide some 159 private apartments, a retail element, a nursery and community rooms.
• March 2012, Global Switch’s €600 million inaugural bond issue in April 2011 came highly commended in the 2011 Treasurer Deals of the Year Awards and was runner up in the prestigious Corporate Finance Deal of the Year category. Global Switch is the leading data centre provider in Europe and Asia Pacific which is fully owned by Reuben Brothers.
• February 2012, Reuben Brothers completed the multi-million-pound acquisition of a data centre in Newark on Trent. Comprising c. 16,000 sq ft of state of the art space, the date centre was purchased on a sale and leaseback arrangement with the communications service provider, Timico. The acquisition marks the latest addition to the Reuben’s data centre portfolio outside of Global Switch, which now stands at four, all of which are in the UK. This means that the total data centre space under the Reubens’ control, including Global Switch, now exceeds 3.2 million sq ft, which is shortly to increase to around 4.2 million sq ft given the various initiatives underway at Global Switch.
• February 2012, Reuben Brothers acquired the London Heliport in Battersea. The acquisition extends the existing aviation interests of the Reuben Brothers, which include ownership of London Oxford Airport (voted the 'Best British Business Aviation Airport’ in 2009). The London Heliport, which offers easy access to London’s West End and the City, represented a unique opportunity to acquire the only CAA licenced heliport in London. It provides luxurious facilities to passengers through its newly developed terminal and VIP lounge and also benefits from an exemption to the no-fly zone during the Olympics.
• February 2012, Rainbow Medical, the investment company supporting the development of breakthrough medical device technologies in which Reuben Brothers are significant investors, announced the closing of a $10 million equity investment by an institutional investment fund in its portfolio company, Vascular Dynamics. Vascular Dynamics, is a fully owned Rainbow Medical company developing a small implant for the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure), a multi-billion USD market opportunity. This investment again validates Rainbow Medical’s value creation model of developing substantial medical devices in a short time and cost effectively.
• January 2012, Reuben Brothers acquired 1-6 Yarmouth Place and 51-53 Brick Street, a freehold property adjoining their existing holdings at 100 Piccadilly, and adjacent to the world-famous “In and Out Club”, which the Reubens bought in 2011. The purchase of this property adds significant value to their current Piccadilly area holdings, which include the iconic Piccadilly Estate as well as three further island sites in Mayfair and other properties on White Horse Street and in the Shepherd Market area. Yarmouth Place has current planning consent for 58,750 sq ft of residential which can be improved upon by combining it with their adjoining properties.

2011

• November 2011, Global Switch’s ninth data centre was launched in Paris, with an official opening reception hosted at the British Embassy by the British Ambassador to France. Global Switch's second data centre in Paris, with floor space of over 182,000 sq ft over six floors, has created that city's leading data centre campus of 540,000 sq ft.
• November 2011, Global Switch, the leading data centre provider in Europe and Asia Pacific 100% owned by the Reuben Brothers, received Planning Consent to build a best-in-class 269,000 sq ft fully-fitted data centre in Singapore. This new data centre will be the second Global Switch facility in Singapore, and will be located approximately 15km from the existing 285,000 sq ft Global Switch data centre. This is the second major planning consent Global Switch has received within a year, Sydney having received full planning to build a second facility of 365,000 sq ft adjacent to its existing data centre, already the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, creating a campus of around 815,000 sq ft of floor space.
• July 2011, Ventower Industries,the producer and supplier of industrial scale wind turbine towers in which the Reuben Brothers invested, completed the state of the art wind tower manufacturing facility in the Port of Monroe, Michigan, USA. The facility, Michigan's newest addition to the wind energy industry, will bring both key wind energy component manufacturing and 21st Century Jobs to the region.
• June 2011, Reuben Brothers acquired the iconic Piccadilly Estate in prime Mayfair, London, in an all-cash transaction. The West End estate, which has a c. 100m (328 ft) frontage to Piccadilly overlooking Green Park, comprises six freehold buildings including the world-famous "In and Out Club" originally built as a royal residence and once occupied by Lord Palmerston, as well as buildings on Half Moon Street and White Horse Street. The Piccadilly Estate adjoins a number of premises already owned by the Reuben Brothers and its acquisition extends the Reubens’ existing Mayfair estate, which already consists of three further island sites, as well as properties on White Horse Street and others in the Shepherd Market area.
• May 2011, London Oxford Airport, fully owned by Aldersgate Investments Limited, a Reuben Brothers company, announced plans to install the latest generation radar system. The new radar system will allow faster throughput of flight activity as well as more efficient transits through local airspace. The investment represents one of the most significant infrastructure enhancements at London Oxford Airport, which was already voted 'Best British Business Aviation Airport' at the AOA Annual Awards in 2009.
• April 2011, Global Switch, the largest wholesale carrier neutral data centre owner and operator in Europe and Asia-Pacific which is 100% owned by Reuben Brothers, launched its inaugural bond offering. With strong investor interest from the outset, the issue was substantially oversubscribed and the deal was therefore increased to €600 million
• March 2011, plans were announced for a €500 million debut bond offering by Global Switch, the data centre business wholly owned by the Reuben Brothers, which has been given investment grade ratings by Moody’s and Fitch.
• March 2011, Fontwell Park Racecourse, one of the ten UK racecourses owned and operated by Northern Racing, was voted “Racecourse of the Year” at the Betview Awards 2011 held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. This honour was awarded to Fontwell Park by the industry for providing the best experience for the betting and racing public.
• February 2011, Reuben Brothers acquired the remaining 50% interest in four 50:50 joint ventures with Brookfield to take full control of the Eden Shopping Centre in High Wycombe, the Newcastle city centre retail development scheme, the St James Retail Park near Newcastle and Western House, High Wycombe.
• January 2011, the CAA have upgraded the status of the runway at London Oxford Airport to Code 3C, an endorsement that the airport is at full commercial operating capability.

2010

• November 2010, Global Switch has received planning approval for a second data centre in Sydney. Designed to meet the high Global Switch specification, the 365,000 sq ft building will be adjacent to Global Switch's existing data centre creating a campus of around 815,000 sq ft of floor space. It will be a trigeneration data centre (utilising primary power from gas turbines) and will have best-in-class environmental credentials.
• November 2010, Luup announced its partnership with Oxigen, India's First and Largest Single Point Recharge, Bill Payments, Ticketing and Kiosk Banking Service provider. The tie-up between Oxigen and Luup is the first of its kind in the world, promoting cost-effective and seamless branchless banking, cross-border as well as domestic remittances and airtime top-up through banking channels – all enabled by Luup via a mobile handset. Luup is a leader in banking-grade mobile payments solutions that enable organisations to securely transform the way financial services are delivered. Luup has devised mobile payments solutions for financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank Global Transaction Banking and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
• October 2010, the development of an additional c. 43,000 sq ft facility in Global Switch’s Singapore data centre is completed. This extension is just one of a number of new initiatives underway at the Reuben Brothers-owned Global Switch which will increase the overall floor space of the business to around 4,000,000 sq ft.
• October 2010, Northern Racing, the racecourse business owned by Reuben Brothers, reached a ground-breaking agreement on pitch positions with on-course bookmakers. In striking an all-encompassing long-term agreement with on-course bookmakers, Northern Racing becomes the first major racecourse Group to have reached a commercial agreement in what is a first for the horse racing industry.
• August 2010, the exciting new grandstand at Fontwell Park racecourse was unveiled to the public with an attendance of over 6,000 race goers. This is one of the most prominent developments in the racing industry in the past decade and is sure to impress anybody that is lucky enough to spend a day’s racing there. The grandstand has been sponsored by internet betting site 888Sport.com who were very keen to be part of the action, especially as the actual Fontwell Park steeplechase track is the only figure of eight jumps track left in the country. This new grandstand has really put Fontwell Park on the map in terms of providing a quality race experience and also provides a first class venue for conferencing, weddings and events.
• June 2010, work is under way on a brand new three-bay hangar at London Oxford Airport. The hangar will offer c. 50,000 sq ft of space, independent office space and car parking. It will be the largest single facility built at the airport to date and when complete the total hangarage at the airport will be c. 240,500 sq ft, an increase of c. 78% since 2005.
• May 2010, Global Switch, a subsidiary of Reuben Brothers, announced that construction is well underway on new facilities in Singapore totalling over 47,300 sq ft, which will bring the total Data Centre space in Singapore to over 300,000 square feet with power of 1,000 w/sq m. At the same time it was announced that a preliminary design for a State of the Art second data centre has been completed. This second facility will be c. 270,000 sq ft and is innovative in its overall design, energy efficiency, sustainability and security. Separately, construction is progressing on program for a second data centre in Paris having in excess of 145,000 square feet and scheduled for completion by July 2011.
• April 2010, Reuben Brothers have acquired a stake in Metro Bank Plc, which has just received the first license from the Financial Services Authority for over 100 years to open and operate retail banks in the United Kingdom. The first store is due to open in Holborn in 2010. Founded by Vernon Hill, the pioneer behind Commerce Bank in the US, Metro Bank has already been successfully rolled out in the US. The model, based around customer friendly service, extended hours of operation and other examples of fresh thinking, should provide an exciting new banking service in the UK.
• March 2010, Reuben Brothers invested in Ventower Industries in the United States, a producer and supplier of industrial scale wind turbine towers. Ventower has commenced work on a groundbreaking 115,000 sq ft, state of the art, wind tower manufacturing facility in the Port of Monroe, Michigan.
• February 2010, Kyp, the specialist marketing company in which Reuben Brothers have a controlling interest in excess of 50%, have signed a partnership deal with Sony DADC to develop solutions centred around Sony's eBridge technology.

2009

• December 2009, London Oxford Airport was voted the 'Best British Business Aviation Airport 2009’ at the AOA Annual Awards Ceremony in London.
• June 2009, Real Imaging, the technology company developing a comprehensive imaging solution for breast cancer detection, in which Reuben Brothers own a stake of over 32%, launched their website www.realimaging.com. The launch of the site comes in conjunction with the company’s first public presentation at the Israel Life Science Industry-Biomed 2009 conference in Tel Aviv.
• June 2009, Northern Racing, the racecourse company Reuben Brothers took private in April 2007, has increased its number of fixtures and is now responsible for c. 15.5% of all UK racing fixtures. Northern Racing owns and operates ten racecourses in the UK .
• June 2009, Reuben Brothers acquired the Freehold of a data centre of c. 233,500 sq ft in Madrid, which is leased to Global Switch, our data centre business. Global Switch will be spending c. €30 million in capital expenditure on the facility over the next 12 months to accommodate the leases that they have signed.
• May 2009, The Business and Enterprise Committee published a report following a survey assessing the satisfaction of tenants with their pub companies. The report stated that the Wellington Pub Company achieved the best results in the survey and provided a striking exception to the other major ‘pubcos’. The Wellington Pub Company is the largest free-of-tie pub estate in the UK with approximately 850 tenanted pubs and is part of the Reuben Brothers group of companies.
• April 2009, Reuben Brothers increased it's stake in Arena Leisure, the owner of 7 racecourses in the UK , to over 26%
• April 2009, Oxford Airport was named as one of Europe ’s top Fixed Base Operators (FBOs) in Altitudes Magazine, the only UK-based FBO to be listed, and an honour shared by only eight other FBO’s across Europe and the Middle East .
• March 2009, Northern Racing announced its 2008 results, showing an increase in earnings from £6.2 million in 2007 to £6.8 million in 2008, in spite of a high number of cancelled meetings across the UK due to bad weather.
• March 2009, Reuben Brothers increased it's stake in Real Imaging, the company developing a method and apparatus for displaying full color, high resolution images to be used to detect cancer and other diseases, to 32.2%.
• March 2009, as a strategic investment Reuben Brothers became large investors in Rainbow Medical, an investment company supporting the development of breakthrough medical device technologies.
• March 2009, Reuben Brothers increased it's ownership in Kyp Systems, the innovative marketing tool business, and now have a controlling interest in excess of 50%.
• March 2009, LUUP, the European-based mobile payment provider which Reuben Brothers jointly control, announced their partnership with Deutsche Bank to offer mobile phone payments services to its clients in 80 countries across Europe , Middle East and Asia .
• March 2009, Reuben Brothers completed the refinancing of the Eden Shopping Centre in High Wycombe , in which it has  a 50% interest. The 825,000 sq ft shopping centre, which opened in March 2008, includes two anchor stores, 120 retail and restaurant units, cinema, bowl as well as 48 residential units and a car park.
• February 2009, various initiatives are underway at Global Switch, a subsidiary of the Reubens, which will increase the overall space from in excess of 2.8 million sq ft to over 3.2 million sq ft.
• January 2009, Reuben Brothers acquired King’s House, St James’s. King’s House is a freehold building providing mixed use accommodation of c. 18,500 sq ft (c. 13,000 sq ft of offices and c. 5,500 sq ft of restaurants) on Haymarket in Central London .

2008

• November 2008, Northern Racing’s Fontwell Park Racecourse received planning permission to replace the existing grandstand with a new three storey grandstand / conference facility with restaurant, private boxes, conference and exhibition space. RB are continually looking for opportunities to improve it's racecourses, including broadening the leisure facilities on the sites and developing the events and hospitality division.
• July 2008, Northern Racing was appointed to manage Ffos Las Racecourse in Wales .
• July 2008, Reuben Brothers secured the ownership of Dawnay Day’s 50% interest in Oxford Airport, giving Reuben Brothers 100% of the business. This follows the opening of a brand new, first class business aviation terminal to cater for private jet passengers and crew. Along with other significant works undertaken, upgrading to Cat 4 RFFS and extending opening hours to 06:30 – 22:30, this has enabled Oxford Airport to become a premier business aviation facility and a convenient, easy access alternative to the established London airports.
• March 2008, planning permission has been granted for three mixed use buildings designed by Foster & Partners to be located on London ’s Albert Embankment, adjacent to the newly-constructed Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel on the River Thames. They will have an area of 342,000 sq ft with the tallest building consisting of 27 storeys. The development will replace the present 1960’s office building, Hampton House.
• March 2008, Reuben Brothers formed a 50:50 joint venture with Park Plaza Hotels Limited to develop a new apart-hotel and leisure destination under the 'art'otel' brand in Hoxton, in the City of London .
• January 2008, work has commenced on the construction of the mixed-use Merchant Square development at Paddington, which will provide in excess of 2,000,000 (2 million) sq ft of office space, residential units, hotel and leisure facilities in the heart of Westminster .

2007

• October 2007, Reuben Brothers invested in Silverjet, the UK-based all-business class airline, through issuance of a convertible bond.
• July 2007, Reuben Brothers acquired Oxford Airport, located 40 miles from London and 6 miles from Oxford city centre. Significant works have recently been undertaken that will enable Oxford Airport to become a major player in the provision of top quality business and general aviation services. The airport is now owned in a joint venture with Dawnay Day.
• June 2007, three prime UK data centres were acquired, which will expand the Global Switch Data Centre business by an additional c. 170,000 sq ft. Global Switch is now 100% owned following the acquisition of Morley Fund Management’s 25% interest. Global Switch is the foremost European and Asia / Pacific Data centre business consisting of around 3,000,000 (3 million) sq ft of Freehold state of the art data centres situated in UK, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Singapore and Australia.
• April 2007, Reuben Brothers acquired Northern Racing plc, the publicly-listed racecourse company, in a c. £90,000,000 (£90 million) deal. Northern Racing owns nine racecourses in the UK and accounts for c. 15% of all racecourses in the UK. In the same sector, Reuben Brothers have a substantial minority stake in Arena Leisure, the owner of seven UK racecourses.
• March 2007, Reuben Brothers, together with the Bank of Scotland, West Coast Capital and others took joint control of McCarthy & Stone, the construction company we took private in October 2006 in a £1,200,000,000 (£1.2 billion) transaction. Reuben Brothers and the Bank of Scotland each own 20% of the equity. Other shareholders that have taken equity stakes in the company are West Coast Capital (8.3%), Lehman Brothers (20%), ELQ Investors Limited (Goldman Sachs Private Equity) (8.3%), Richard Desmond (6.7%), Petrofac (6.7%), Michael Lewis (6.7%) and Prestbury (3.3%).
• February 2007, Reuben Brothers underwrote, together with Dawnay Day, a £25,000,000 (£25 million) rights issue by Ultimate Leisure Group, the publicly-quoted bar and nightclub operator, to increase our shareholding in the group to 32.5%. It is Ultimate Leisure Group’s intention to use this capital for further acquisition opportunities to take the group forward to the next stage of its development.

2006

• December 2006, Reuben Brothers completed the purchase of a c. 235,000 sq ft mixed-use building in a prime Oxford Street Mayfair location. The building, Hereford House, includes the c. 122,000 sq ft flagship London Primark store, as well as c. 51,000 sq ft of offices, c. 52,000 sq ft of leisure and c. 10,000 sq ft of retail.
• September 2006, Reuben Brothers set up with Deutsche Bank a €1,000,000,000 (€1 billion) predominantly retail property joint venture primarily investing in Germany. RB asset manage jointly with Deutsche Bank and have a 25% stake in the fund alongside Deutsche Bank and other financial investors.
• June 2006, the sale of Reuben Brothers 50% holdings in Stratford City Developments Limited ("SCDL") for the sum of £110 million. SCDL are involved in a £4,000,000,000 (£4 billion) development in Stratford.
• June 2006, Reuben Brothers formed a 50:50 joint venture with the Bank of Scotland in Sapphire Retail Fund, in which RB had a 90% interest. Sapphire Retail Fund comprises three shopping centres across the UK , totalling some 1.3 million sq. ft.
• April 2006, in a joint venture with Aerium FGG Capital, Reuben Brothers completed the acquisition of a retail portfolio spread across Germany in excess of €380,000,000 (€380 million), which is leased back to C&A.
• May 2006, agreed to pay Multiplex £82,500,000 (£82.5 million) for their interest in several assets held jointly with Reuben Brothers.
• February 2006, in a Joint Venture with the Bank of Scotland, the acquisition from British Land of 1,500 residential units spread across the United Kingdom.
• January 2006, Reuben Brothers gained control of Global Switch by buying out Multiplex's interest, giving us a 75% interest in all European assets and a 100% interest in the Singapore and Australia assets. Global Switch is the foremost European and Asia / Pacific Data centre business consisting of over 2,800,000 (2.8 million) sq. ft. of Freehold state of the art data centres situated in UK, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Singapore and Australia.

2005

• September 2005, in a joint venture with Multiplex, Reuben Brothers agreed to carry out the c. 612,000 sq ft. devloplment, already commenced, of the Eden Centre (formerly Octagon Centre), in High Wycombe town centre, financed by Royal Bank of Scotland.
• August 2005, Reuben Brothers built up a 29.5% stake in Ultimate Leisure Group, the bar and club operator. Ultimate Leisure Group is a publicly-quoted company and is the predominant bar and club operator with assets spread over the North and North-East of England .
• June 2005, in association with a consortium of investors, financing the acquisition of land and the building of hypermarkets in Romania , totalling some 60-70,000 sq. ft.
• June 2005 and December 2005, the acquisition of 9 and subsequently 17 single and multi-tenanted retail centres spread across Germany in places such as Berlin and Leverkusen .
• In 2005 Reuben Brothers concentrated our acquisitions in Western and Central Europe - in Germany , Romania and in France , with the acquisition of a large portfolio of properties with substantial holdings in the Champagne region. Our acquisitions in these regions have a value of several hundred million Euros.
• January 2005, in a 50/50 joint venture with Multiplex, an agreement was entered into with the Gibraltar Government to carry out a development of approximately 6,000,000 (6 million) sq. ft. in Gibraltar Eastside.
• January 2005, jointly with West Coast Capital, Bank of Scotland and Prestbury, a sale and leaseback arrangement on a portfolio of 135 Travelodge properties valued in October 2004 at c. £405,000,000 (£405 million).

2004

• August 2004, the acquisition of the Wellington Pub Company from Sun Capital and Hugh Osmond. Wellington has approximately 840 tenanted pubs, mainly in the South-East of England , and is the largest Free of Tie pub estate.
• October 2004. Joint bid with Multiplex and Westfield for Chelsfield/Duelguide. The successful transaction provided the Chelsfield investors with a 45% profit on their investments. We have subsequently been working closely with our consortium partners to realise maximum value for the Chelsfield assets.
• May 2004, in association with a consortium of investors including the Bank of Scotland and Multiplex, the management buy-out of Chelsfield plc. This resulted in us becoming the largest shareholders with a stake of 35%. We also invested approximately £108,000,000 (£108 million) of mezzanine finance, representing 35% of the total mezzanine provided.
• March 2004, with West Coast Capital, Bank of Scotland and Prestbury, the acquisition of a £500,000,000 (£500 million) portfolio of 220 pubs, which are leased back to Spirit for 30 years.

2003

• August 2003, jointly with West Coast Capital and Bank of Scotland the purchase of a portfolio of shopping centres in excess of £310,000,000 (£310 million).
• May 2003, financing the acquisition of a 50.4% stake in ERMEWA, a rail freight business headquartered in Switzerland . SNCF, the French railway company is the owner of the remaining 49.6%. ERMEWA is one of the world's leading tanker container companies and the largest of its kind in Europe . It is the second largest tank container rental company in the world.

The Reuben Brothers have provided mezzanine finance in a number of other deals, and continue to welcome opportunities to provide such financing in the future.