Advertising giant WPP has flipped Rose Court in Southwark, SE1, to M&G Real Estate for around £190m in a sale and leaseback deal.
The UK advertising and PR company bought the building from Singapore-listed property group Ho Bee Land in February for £94.5m through a Guernsey property unit trust.
The building comprises 157,144 sq ft of office and ancillary space and is let to the secretary of state for communities and local government until September 2018 at an annual rent of £4.3m.
The deal could see WPP move some of its London offices to Rose Court, although it is expected to retain its Mayfair HQ at 27 Farm Street, W1. WPP also has a 67,399 sq ft Paddington office at 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, W2.
The new office would position WPP close to one of its biggest competitors Omnicom, which is located at Bankside 2 & Bankside 3, SE1 – the 453,904 sq ft offices currently being sold by M&G Real Estate.
The London-based group, which has 3,000 offices in 113 countries, said in its 2016 preliminary results that is was focused on improving the flexibility of its cost base through areas including staff and property.
The group has 394 companies listed on its website as under its ownership, including advertising firms Grey and JWT and media investment management firms MediaCom and Maxus. Many of its subsidiary companies have London offices.
Colliers International and James Andrew International advised WPP.
All parties declined to comment.
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