MEPC buys Silverstone industrial estate

The British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) has completed the sale of the existing Silverstone industrial estate to UK commercial property company MEPC for £32 mln (€38 mln).

MEPC has taken a 999-year lease on the estate and the development land outside the circuit for which planning permission has been granted. The agreement does not include the management or development of Silverstone Circuit itself.

MEPC is owned by the BT Pension Scheme, the UK’s largest corporate pension scheme which also owns Hermes Fund Managers. MEPC owns seven prime business estates valued at more than £700 mln.

The sale has allowed BRDC to pay off its long and short-term loans from Lloyds Banking Group and Northamptonshire County Council.

'The BRDC Board was given a mandate three years ago to attract suitable partners to invest in Silverstone and help realise the full potential of its 760-acre estate,' said Stuart Rolt, chairman of BRDC. 'We have every confidence that MEPC's vision for our land will see the realisation of a high-quality development which will add to the ever-growing status of Silverstone as a world-class centre for motor sport and vehicle engineering.'

BRDC is a membership body that represents the interests of professional racing drivers from the UK. Having taken over the lease of Silverstone from the RAC in 1952 the club purchased the site’s freehold from the Ministry of Defence in 1971.