UBS has cancelled its deal for Grant Thornton to sublease almost 105,000 sq ft and relocate its headquarters in the City of London to 5 Broadgate, EC2.
The Swiss investment bank agreed to let the top two floors of its London headquarters, which it is scheduled to occupy until 2035, to the accountancy firm but has revised plans as it begins to relocate Credit Suisse staff from Canary Wharf, E14, following its acquisition in June.
Grant Thornton agreed to take space in the 733,000 sq ft building for £70 per sq ft in November 2022. The move would have seen the company relocate from its current office at 30 Finsbury Square, EC2, in 2024.
However, UBS inherited an additional 45,000 staff when it bought the distressed bank and last week the company said in a memo that it is to move Credit Suisse staff out of its 540,000 sq ft offices at 1 Cabot Square, E14, and into the UBS headquarters.
As a result, vacant space that emerged in the building after UBS implemented a hybrid working policy in early 2022 will be occupied and will require Grant Thornton’s sublease to be dissolved.
A spokesperson for Grant Thornton said: “Following the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, we have agreed with UBS to a surrender of our earlier agreed lease at 5 Broadgate and are currently in the process of reviewing options for our central London headquarters from 2024. Further information will be made available in due course.”
Insiders said in June that between 30,000 and 35,000 staff were likely to leave the combined organisation in three rounds of cuts, with around 25,000 posts at Credit Suisse expected to be axed.
5 Broadgate was sold by CK Asset Holdings to Korea’s National Pension Service last year in a £1.21bn deal.
One Cabot Square is the second Qatar Investment Authority-owned building to lose anchor tenants in the banking sector to the City. In June this year, HSBC said it would vacate its 45-floor tower at 8 Canada Square, E14, when its lease expires, moving to BT’s former head office in St Paul’s at 81 Newgate Street, EC1, in 2027.
Credit Suisse has been subleasing space at One Cabot Square to other occupiers including the General Pharmaceutical Council, which has 21,056 sq ft on floor 14, and NYK Group Europe, which occupies 19,407 sq ft on floor 19. However, it also has around 160,000 sq ft being marketed, EG understands. Both leases end in 2034.
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