Apple to Move Into London's Battersea Power Station -- Update
September 28 2016 - 11:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Stu Woo and Art Patnaude
LONDON--Silicon Valley giant Apple Inc. said Wednesday that it
planned to relocate 1,400 employees to a new London campus in 2021,
in a sign that international corporations remain committed to the
U.K. after June's Brexit vote.
British lawmakers praised Apple's decision as a vote of
confidence in the British economy, the world's fifth largest. The
commitment also buoyed one of Europe's biggest regeneration
projects, an initiative to redevelop an area on the south bank of
the River Thames.
Apple, the world's most valuable company by market
capitalization, said in a statement that it wanted to move its
London-based workers to one location. Its new offices will be in
Battersea Power Station, an iconic former coal-fired plant featured
on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals" and in the 2008
Batman film "The Dark Knight."
Apple representatives didn't respond to requests for further
comment. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has said it has 22,000
employees across Europe. Its European headquarters is in Ireland,
where it employs more than 5,500 people.
U.K. Treasury chief Philip Hammond said Apple's new campus
reaffirmed both Britain's business environment and London's tech
leadership. Though small by Silicon Valley standards, the London
tech industry has become Europe's hub because of its nearby
top-flight universities and established venture-capital firms.
Since the referendum vote to leave the European Union, Prime
Minister Theresa May's government has worked to convince investors
that Britain is open for business and will work to secure a good
trade deal with Europe. She has pointed to SoftBank Group Corp.'s
$32 billion acquisition of U.K.-based ARM Holdings PLC, announced
in July, as a sign of confidence in the country.
But economic data released since the June referendum have
painted a mixed picture of the U.K. economy. While some surveys
suggested it slowed in July, others showed activity has since
recovered.
About 2 miles west of Big Ben, Battersea Power Station was
decommissioned in 1983. Various attempts to redevelop the 42-acre
site failed until 2012, when a group of Malaysian investors kicked
off the current project at an estimated cost of GBP8 billion ($10.4
billion). Developers aim to sell high-end condominiums and rent out
office and shop space.
Battersea Power Station is itself part of a bigger project
called Nine Elms, on a 480-acre site along the riverbank. Cranes
and other construction machinery dominate the area, where the U.S.
is set to finish its new embassy later this year. Plans also
include 20,000 new homes, schools, parks and a new subway
station.
Real-estate experts have warned of the proliferation of high-end
condominium developments sold to foreign investors, saying they
constitute one of the U.K. property sectors at the greatest risk of
a downturn after Brexit.
Giles Turner contributed to this article.
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com and Art Patnaude at
art.patnaude@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2016 12:28 ET (16:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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