Evans Randall is making its first West End purchase for four years in a move to strengthen its portfolio with smaller, high-income producing assets.
The private equity firm is closing in on 15 Sackville Street, W1. It will pay more than £60m in an off-market deal for the 34,000 sq ft office.
The owner of City icon the Gherkin is in final negotiations to buy the largely vacant and recently redeveloped Mayfair office block from Japanese firm Mitsui Fudosan.
Evans Randall has typically targeted City trophy buildings in recent years. But over the past 12 months it has sold several of its City assets including Drapers Gardens, EC2, to German fund RREEF for £283m, and Canada Square, E14, to St Martins Property, the real estate fund of the Kuwaiti government, for close to £385m.
It sold out of the West End in 2010, selling the 40,000 sq ft 10 Burlington Street, W1, to a private investor for £46m.
A source close to the private equity firm said: “Evans Randall has been City-centric recently, but with rising rents in W1, it now wants at least one West End holding.
“It knows that once 15 Sackville Street is fully let, the property value will increase.”
Mitsui Fudosan secured the first tenant at Sackville Street in December last year. Gulfstream Aerospace agreed to pay more than £105 per sq ft for 5,500 sq ft.
The remaining space is expected to fetch upwards of £100 per sq ft.
The sale will help fund Mitsui’s European expansion plans, which involve buying land and developing new projects.
Evans Randall is advised by CBRE.
All parties declined to comment.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
