Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega’s property company has swooped in with an offer to buy Rio Tinto’s St James’s HQ for around £250m.
Ponte Gadea Group, the propco owned by Ortega, who founded fashion chain Zara, has entered advanced negotiations with mining giant Rio Tinto to buy 6 St James’s Square, SW1.
The deal for the 116,000 sq ft West End block would involve a sale-and-leaseback with Rio Tinto, allowing it to lease the bulk of the space for its own occupation.
The property was the mining company’s global HQ until it moved to Paddington, W2, in 2007. The firm announced last year that it would return to St James’s following the completion of an Exemplar-led redevelopment of the site.
The deal would mark Ponte Gadea’s second trophy office building purchase in London’s West End, after it paid more than £400m for Devonshire House, W1, in December 2013.
Cushman & Wakefield is advising the vendor. All parties declined to comment.
