Joseph Lau’s Chinese Estates has scooped up the Mayfair headquarters of private bank Kleinwort Benson for £121.7m – a 3.5% yield.
The investor bought 14 St George Street, W1, from Aberdeen Asset Management.
The 51,861 sq ft office is fully let to the bank until 2020 at an average passing rent of £86.88 per sq ft – well below current market rents.
Kleinwort Benson also sublets space in the building to tenants such as global trading firm Trafigura, which moved in last year after an aborted deal to move to Mercury’s 30 Berkeley Square, W1, to pay £150 per sq ft.
The property is the first acquisition made by Chinese Estates since it purchased Goldman Sachs’ London headquarters at River Court, 120 Fleet Street, EC4 for £300m in 2011.
Colliers advised the vendor; CBRE acted on behalf of the purchaser.
• To send feedback e-mail shekha.vyas@estatesgazette.com or tweet @shekhaV or @estatesgazette
