Janus Henderson is selling one of its key London assets as retail funds come under greater stress.
The fund is looking at offloading the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s headquarters at 169 Union Street, SE1, in Southwark for around £95m.
It is understood that Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE have been appointed to sell the 120,000 sq ft asset.
The office was first purchased in 2015 for £90m, reflecting a net initial yield of around 5%, in an off-market acquisition from Zeno Capital.
TH Real Estate completed the acquisition on behalf of Janus Henderson.
The building was originally built as the Royal Mail’s parcel sorting office in 1905.
The sale comes as retail funds continue to face a rise in redemptions. The UK financial watchdog has stepped up its monitoring of property funds in recent months. The increased scrutiny follows worried investors withdrawing hundreds of millions of pounds amid Brexit uncertainty, leading to fears of another liquidity crunch.
Janus Henderson said: “We have been pleased with the 50% rental growth achieved at the asset since purchase. We will be recycling the proceeds from the sale towards south-east industrial, where we have strong asset management opportunities.”
Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE declined to comment.
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