The Sultan of Brunei will earn an extra £4m pa from one of the most prized buildings in his UK portfolio.
His Brunei Investment Agency is believed to have won a bitter 16-month rent review with PricewaterhouseCoopers over its HQ at 1 Embankment Place, Strand, WC2.
The accounting giant, advised by King Sturge, is understood to have been paying £45 per sq ft – £15.75m pa – at the 350,000 sq ft building since 1990. Kinney Green’s Nick Eden, brought in as an arbitrator, has ruled that PwC must pay £56 per sq ft, equating to a rent roll of almost £20m.
Allsop & Co, which is advising the agency, is believed to have asked for nearer to £60 per sq ft when the review came up in September 2000. A source close to the negotiations said: “It is the right result. It is ludicrous to think that PwC wanted to pay 1990 rental levels.”
In August 2000, just one month before the review date, a Vodafone/Vivendi joint venture agreed to pay £55 per sq ft at Shell Mex House, also on Strand.
Allsop’s Richard Bourchier would not confirm the details of the arbitration, but said: “We are satisfied with the outcome.”
