Land Securities

Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is headquartered in London, England, and traded on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company traces its origins to 1944, when its founder Harold Samuel purchased Land Securities Investment Trust Limited, which owned three houses in Kensington and some government stock. Further acquisitions followed shortly afterwards and from 1947 the company concentrated on commercial property. In the early days some non-UK investments were acquired, but in 1971 these were sold off and the company decided to focus solely on the UK market. The company name was changed to Land Securities plc in 1982. After buying Trillium in 2000, in 2002 it formed a 50/50 joint venture company (Telereal Trillium) with William Pears Group (WPG) to buy the property portfolio of British Telecom: after selling its shares in Telereal to WPG in 2007, Land Securities sold Trillium to WPG in 2009. On 31 March 2012, Francis Salway was succeeded as chief executive by Robert Noel. Noel was managing director of the company's London properties, having joined Land Securities in January 2010 from Great Portland Estates plc.