Hong Kong-listed Emperor Group has exchanged contracts to buy Candy Crush Saga headquarters, the Ampersand building, W1, from Peterson Group for £260m.
Peterson, also a Hong Kong company, began a process to sell the 89,337 sq ft asset at 178 Wardour Street, in November.
The building is home to King.com, the company behind the Candy Crush Saga game, which leased the entire 67,791 sq ft of offices in September 2015. It has 8.7 years left on its leases and pays £5.3m a year, £77.50 per sq ft.
Ground floor tenants are retailers Perfume Shop, Lloyds, CJ & Clark, Carphone Warehouse, Pret a Manger and Ryman. The shops have an average unexpired lease term of 7.15 years and bring in rent of £2.5m per year.
The building is under-rented and has reversionary potential, with rents in the area between £95 per sq ft and £100 per sq ft.
The building is near Tottenham Court Road station, where Crossrail will be operational from 2018, and Facebook’s new headquarters, which landlord Great Portland Estates is in discussions with Deka to sell for around £450m.
If the deal completes, Peterson will have have realised a substantial profit. It forward funded Ampersand in 2013 in a £121m deal with developer Resolution shortly ahead of its completion.
Emperor also owns the freehold interest of nearby 25-27 Oxford Street, W1, which it bought in 2015 for £35.5m.
Peterson said that it “will continue to look for investments in the UK and expand its footprint to other European countries working with different strategic partners seeking opportunistic strategies amongst different asset classes”.
• To send feedback, e-mail Shekha.Vyas@estatesgazette.com or tweet @shekhaV or @estatesgazette
