South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has placed Blackstone’s Sanctuary Buildings in Westminster, SW1, under offer for around £280m as part of a joint venture.
Hana’s JV partner is understood to be another South Korean investor.
Blackstone appointed CBRE and Savills to look for offers close to £280m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.2%, in September. It relet the 227,000 sq ft office block for another 15 years to the Department of Education in August.
Blackstone first acquired the property from Tishman Speyer in 2014 for £175m – representing a circa 5.6% yield – when the DfE had only around three years left on its lease.
The private equity giant has recently sold several London office assets, including the £550m sale of the Adelphi building, WC2, to Amancio Ortega’s investment vehicle Pontegadea in August. Last month, it also sold 125 Old Broad Street, EC2, to Singapore’s City Developments for £385m in an off-market deal.
This latest deal shows South Korean investors remain focused on London office acquisitions, following regulatory changes in the Far East country.
The changes have encouraged a spate of deals including, in August, NPS’s purchase of Goldman Sachs new London HQ for £1.2bn and KB Securities’ acquisition of 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2, for £290m.
South Korean investment in the UK hit £1.1bn during the first half of 2018 compared to £540m for the whole of 2017, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield, with the firm predicting it could top £4bn by year end.
To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette
