Japanese construction firm Takenaka Corporation has emerged as the new frontrunner to buy the Heron Tower, EC2, with a £720m bid – a 3.6% yield.
The 440,000 sq ft office was originally under offer to Chinese insurer Anbang, but it is no longer involved in proceedings.
Takenaka’s bid reflects a circa £30m discount to Anbang’s £750m offer.
This would not be a London debut for the Japanese construction giant. In 2013, Takenaka bought the 163,940 sq ft office block One Fleet Place, EC4, for £112.5m from LondonMetric.
The 46-storey Heron Tower is owned by Gerald Ronson’s Heron International, the State General Reserve Fund of Oman and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd.
JP Morgan and Starwood Capital refinanced the building in October 2013 as part of a complex restructuring involving a fresh equity injection of around £100m and £288m of debt. The loans were agreed at a margin of around 450bps – more than 300bps higher than if the building were to be refinanced in today’s competitive debt market.
If a sale is not agreed, Heron International could still explore options of a refinance for the City skyscraper.
James Andrew International is acting for Takenaka Corportation.
amber.rolt@estatesgazette.com
