Asif Aziz’s Golfrate, CIT and US venture capitalist Blackstone Group are understood to be lining up offers for Burford Holding’s Trocadero centre in London’s Leicester Square.
Best bids on the entertainment complex will be called on 4 May. Burford put Trocadero up for sale last month through Franc Warwick for £200m, reflecting a 5.75% yield.
The asking price is a massive £50m less than it was valued at in 2000 and £10m less than the price Burford paid for the centre in 1997.
The 500,000 sq ft complex has a troubled past and despite being one of London’s best-known tourist attractions has never truly succeeded as a business.
It had a succession of owners in 1980s and 1990s, eventually collapsing into receivership in 1994. A failed partnership with computer company Sega in 1999 has left Trocadero with 75,000 sq ft of empty space ever since.
Industry sources said investors were approaching the centre with caution because of its troubled past and the amount of capital investment needed, which given the appetite for commercial property at the moment was surprising.
“People are worried about the centre,” said an industry observer “as the banks are wary about lending on Trocadero because of its past problems.”
The sale also includes the London Pavillion on the corner of Shaftsbury Avenue and Coventry Street.
References: EGi News 22/04/05
