Green Property Group is set to crystallise a significant profit on a portfolio once owned by convicted fraudster Achilleas Kallakis.
As revealed by EGi, the Dublin-based firm has instructed CBRE to sell the Telegraph’s 230,000 sq ft HQ at 111 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1, for £200m – a 5% yield.
The price reflects a premium of around £30m on what Green paid for the building when it acquired a portfolio of 12 Kallakis assets from Allied Irish Banks for £650m in 2008.
The Telegraph HQ accounted for around £170m of the total purchase price, according to sources. Kallakis paid the Barclay brothers £225m for the building in August 2007.
Green, run by Pat Gunne
and Stephen Vernon, has already sold five other assets from the portfolio. They include the Market Towers in Nine Elms, SW8, which was bought by Chinese investor Dalian Wanda for £90m, and Apollo House and Lunar House in Croydon, south London, to Harel & Cal Pension Funds for £78m.
“Green will be selling a number of the other properties on an ad hoc basis over the next 24 months,” said a source.
Kallakis built up a £1bn portfolio of 16 assets between 2003 and 2007, with £740m of debt from AIB. The Irish bank rushed the assets to market in 2008 following the uncovering of a major mortgage fraud by Kallakis and business partner Alexander Williams.
Kallakis and Williams were both found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and are currently serving 11- and eight-year terms respectively in prison.
Joanna.Bourke@estatesgazette.com
