US software giant Electronic Arts is in advanced negotiations to sell its former European HQ building in Chertsey, Surrey, more than three years after putting it on the market.
Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma is in exclusive talks with EA about a £17m purchase of the 90,000 sq ft 2000 Hillswood Drive asset. The deal would include an adjacent site that has planning consent for 100,000 sq ft of offices.
Astellas Pharma, which is based in Staines, is expected to occupy the Foster & Partners-designed building.
In 2008, a deal to sell the property to Frontier Estates for around £29m collapsed. Procter & Gamble had also been linked with a potential purchase in recent years.
EA put the building and the adjacent site up for sale in November 2007 for around £35m. It was forced to leave the property as part of a cost-cutting drive.
daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com
