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Royal London confirms 25 Soho Square buy

Royal London has confirmed it has bought 25 Soho Square, W1, from Aviva Investors for £75.35m.

EG reported earlier this month that the firm was in talks to buy the property.

It provides more than 42,000 sq ft of office space to tenants including software firm Palantir Technologies, which counts the US Army, United Airlines and Air Asia as clients, Leisure Pass Group and consultant Bow & Arrow.

Aviva acquired the property in 2010 for £40.9m.

It follows last summer’s sale of 66,000 sq ft 20 Soho Square by Aviva to a private European investor for £117m. It is let entirely to Palantir Technologies UK and has a rent roll of £4.9m.

Keith Miller, senior fund manager and head of offices, Royal London Asset Management, said: “25 Soho Square perfectly fits our strategy of buying best-in-class buildings in prominent central London locations.

“Occupier demand for Soho is strong, as evidenced by the leasing success at our redevelopment of 6 Warwick Street at rents in excess of £100 per sq ft.

“Our outlook for the market remains positive and we believe Soho will continue to outperform.”

David Diemer, Aviva’s head of UK balanced funds, said: “Having delivered on our business plan, we decided that this is the appropriate time in both the asset and the market cycle to exit, crystallising the significant value uplift created over our hold period.

“We will continue to focus our investment strategy in our target locations where we believe we have the opportunity to add value on behalf of our investors.”

CBRE advised RLAM and JLL acted for Aviva Investors.

To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette

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