US law firm close to taking 100,000 sq ft at Woolgate Exchange, EC2
The City is set to see its first major letting of 2003. US law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood is finalising negotiations for a 100,000 sq ft sublet at German bank West LB’s London HQ.
The firm has been scouring the City, Midtown and Canary Wharf for the past year but is close to agreeing a deal for West LB’s space at Woolgate Exchange, EC2, in the early £40s per sq ft. It has also shortlisted Hammerson’s 1 London Wall, EC2, should negotiations break down.
The 350,000 sq ft Woolgate, on Basinghall Street, is owned by West LB client Rotch.
The deal would see West LB disposing of almost a third of its space in the building. West LB is restructuring its investment banking division and will be left with at least 100,000 sq ft surplus.
West LB’s principal finance chief, Robin Saunders, is the subject of an internal audit by West LB and Bafin, the German financial regulator, over a risk provisioning write-down on a loan to television rental group Boxclever in 1999.
Saunders has contemplated buying her division out of the bank, and held talks with Rotch about backing such a move.
Mark Bourne, head of City agency at King Sturge, who is advising Sidley Austin, said: “We are in the closing stages of our negotiations.”
FPDSavills is advising West LB.
