The Japanese bank is considering a sale and leaseback deal for its City headquarters building, while Reuters has employed NM Rothschild to undertake a property review
Japanese bank Nomura and European media company Reuters are planning to raise capital by selling property in London.
Nomura is keen to carry out a sale and leaseback on its 27,870m2 Nomura House at 1 St Martin’s-le-Grand in the City, while Reuters has appointed investment bank NM Rothschild to carry out a strategic review of its London portfolio, which could raise up to £200m.
Nomura could expect to pay around £13.5m a year in rent for Nomura House, which is close to the Paternoster Square redevelopment. A Nomura insider said the bank does not want non-performing assets on its books.
There is high demand among investors for well-let property providing long-term income, so it would be easy to find a buyer for Nomura House. Insignia Richard Ellis, which has advised Nomura in the past, is likely to handle the building’s sale.
The headquarters, built behind a former Post Office, was bought from developers Kumagai Gumi and Glengate for around £125m in 1986, and is the only office owned by Nomura outside Japan. The bank is considering taking a lease of between 15 and 30 years.
Meanwhile, NM Rothschild is looking at ways to maximise the value of Reuters’ 46,450m2 London portfolio. A review might lead to a sale and leaseback of Reuters’ London freehold sites, which include 85 Fleet Street in the City, the adjacent St Brides property, and its 27,310m2 data centre in Docklands, in a transaction that would be worth a total of around £200m.
A sale and leaseback deal would ease financial pressure on Reuters, which in July announced a pretax loss of £88m for the first half of the year after £156m of restructuring charges and losses at a brokerage subsidiary.
