A Chinese sovereign wealth fund is backing Axa’s bid to buy British Land’s Ropemaker Place, EC2.
Gingko Tree Investment, whose sole shareholder is the Investment Company of the People’s Republic of China, is understood to have partnered with the insurance giant on its £450m bid.
Axa will act as asset manager should the deal complete.
Underbidders for the 575,000 sq ft property include Norges Bank Investment Management, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, German fund manager Deka and Malaysian investment fund PNB.
A deal would represent a spectacular close to 2012 for Gingko in London. It has already bought the £285m Drapers Gardens, EC2, from Evans Randall and more recently entered talks to buy a 40% stake in University Partnerships Programme, one of the UK’s biggest student accommodation companies.
BL instructed Jones Lang LaSalle to handle the sale of Ropemaker Place after a number of off-market approaches, including one from Kuwaiti property group St Martins in the spring.
The building, whose tenants include Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Australia’s Macquarie Bank, generates more than £20m of rental income a year.
The deal is the latest sign of the anticipated flow of capital into London from China.
City agents are expecting a flood of new investors after insurance companies from the world’s most populous country were freed to invest up to 15% of their assets directly in overseas markets in a range of classes, including real estate.
All parties declined to comment.
