Creating Office Stories

At CLS, we invest in commercial real estate across the UK, Germany, and France, with the majority of our properties being offices situated in key European cities, carefully chosen in central or urban locations, close to excellent transport networks.

Most of our properties are multi-let to a wide variety of occupiers, giving us the opportunity to add value whilst spreading our risk.

Our in-house sustainability programme is focused on mitigating our impact on climate change and continuously enhancing our properties, thereby taking sustainability into account for all our acquisitions.

Our active management approach is also applied at a portfolio level, continually assessing whether properties meet return criteria and/or we can continue to add value. Each property in our portfolio has its own asset management plan, which we flex depending upon our occupiers’ requirements and leasing activity. Refurbishments are undertaken to enhance the portfolio and capture rental growth.

Our portfolio approach also includes assessing whether greater value can be captured through a change of use, for example, a residential conversion. In such cases, after planning permission has been obtained, the property will usually be sold to a developer.

At the appropriate time, we will also dispose of properties which are too small or too low yielding or for which the risk/reward balance is unfavourable. One of our decision criteria is the sustainability rating of the property and the cost to make enhancements.

Most of our properties are held in their own legal entity and are financed with bank loans borrowed on a non-recourse, ring-fenced basis to the rest of the Group.

We have the flexibility to borrow at fixed or floating rates of interest and, by borrowing against each asset, we are able to use a level of gearing suitable to the specific property.

In cases where it’s more appropriate to finance properties together, such as on the acquisition of a larger portfolio, we finance them under one loan, usually with the flexibility to withdraw properties from charge and to substitute others.

Our bank borrowing is typically for five or seven years, or longer, and as most of our debt is obtained from local banks, we have active relationships with many lenders around Europe, which spreads our risk.

In everything we do to secure the right finance, we aim to generate responsible profit through creating sustainable long-term decisions with the environment in mind.

The key to active management is to perform it in-house. By using our own employees, we harness greater motivation, response times and attention to detail than if tasks were to be outsourced.

At CLS, we’re proud to provide a first-rate in-house management service to our customers, including asset management (leasing), property management (refurbishments), facilities management (day-to-day maintenance), development management, tenant billing and debt collection, and purchase ledger and service charge management.

By performing all of these functions in-house, not only do we have a hands-on relationship with our occupiers, but we are able to control costs, maintain our revenue stream, and develop and embed positive environmental practices across our managed landscape, contributing to our efforts to combat climate change.

We pay dividends to our shareholders in accordance with our dividend policy, with the balance reinvested in the business.  In this way, shareholders can be rewarded partly in cash and partly in the capital appreciation of their shares.

Our occupiers are our customers. We pride ourselves in how we build relationships, understand their needs and align our strategic vision to their own business ambitions. We are responsive and flexible, providing cost-effective, continually modernised accommodation, ensuring they stay with us for the long term.

We reward employees for their work and their loyalty, through salaries and bonus schemes which reflect the success of the business, thereby aligning their interests with our shareholders and our customers.