Schroders-managed Jersey investment trust WELPUT has exchanged on a deal to buy 20 St James’s Street, SW1, for £62m.
Pramerica Real Estate Investors, acting on behalf of a single client account mandate for a German pension fund, is selling the building in an off-market deal.
WELPUT is interested in the office block’s potential for refurbishment as rents soar in St James’s.
Vacant possession will be achieved on the 55,490 sq ft block, which sits just yards from Green Property’s 8 St James’s Square, later this year.
Green Property’s building set a record West End rent of £186 per sq ft earlier this month.
The Crown Estate holds the freehold to 20 St James’s Street, with WELPUT purchasing a long lease of around 100 years.
Pramerica bought the block from Great Portland Estates for £54.5m in 2013, reflecting a net initial yield of 2.1% at the time.
WELPUT’s purchase comes after it won £162m of funding from an international institutional investor in March, and follows the trust’s sale of 21 Tothill, SW1, for £55.4m in January.
