WELPUT has paid clients of TH Real Estate £48.9m for the long leasehold of 7 Bishopsgate, EC2.
The 62,020 sq ft grade A office, recently refurbished, is multilet and generates rents ranging from £42.50 to £53.50 per sq ft. It has two vacant floors.
WELPUT made its debut City purchase in May, paying Aberdeen Asset Management £22.9m for 31 Bury Street, EC3.
The purchase comes as WELPUT sold 16-17 Connaught Place, W2, for £110m to funds managed by Luxembourg-based GWM Group.
Ker Gilchrist, head of investment at Quintain, which advises WELPUT, said: “WELPUT acquired Connaught Place in 2005 and since then has undertaken significant refurbishment and fully let the building in the run up to the sale. Having completed our business plan, we decided to take the opportunity to offer the asset to the market and capitalise on the strong investor interest in well-established West End buildings.”
TH Real Estate senior portfolio manager Peter Neal said: “Number 7 Bishopsgate was acquired by our second London office fund, CLOFII, in June 2011 and a comprehensive refurbishment was completed in 2013. TH Real Estate’s business plan, based on repositioning the building to create grade A office space, has been successfully completed with terms agreed to let the two remaining office floors.
“The sale crystalises an attractive return over the period of ownership and the sale proceeds will be returned to investors. This is our second transaction with WELPUT following its acquisition of Regent’s Wharf, King’s Cross, in November last year.”
CBRE advised WELPUT; Savills acted for TH Real Estate.
