Blackrock has sold Sony Playstation’s European headquarters to Qatar’s Alduwaliya Asset Management for £104m – a 4.5% yield – in an off-market deal.
The 70,000 sq ft West End trophy at 10 Great Marlborough Street, W1, is fully let to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe until 2028 with a break in 2023, at a rent of around £60 per sq ft.
Colliers was instructed to sell the property on behalf of the vendor.
The asset is held in the £3.3bn Blackrock UK Property Fund, which has experienced higher than usual redemptions since the outset of the EU referendum.
Blackrock is also selling the £200m Rio portfolio, a collection of 20 assets named as their launch coincided with the start of the Olympic Games in the Brazilian capital.
This is the second major purchase the Qatari investor has made this year, following its acquisition of Westerland Real Estate’s London Automotive Factory at 184 Shepherd’s Bush Road, W6, for around £100m – a 4.6% yield. The 118,845 sq ft west London office was prelet to Tesco-owned Clubcard creator Dunnhumby on a 15-year lease with no breaks, in 2013.
The deal follows TH Real Estate’s sale of Ryder Court, SW1, also marketed by Colliers, to Chinese developer Vanke. The asset was bought as Vanke’s first foray into the UK commercial property market for £115m – a 4.3.% yield.
Henderson put the property up for sale to repay redemptions on its £3.9bn UK Property fund.
The investments signal a continued appetite from overseas investors keen to take advantage of the post-EU referendum currency window and suggest a slight softening of yields in the West End.
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