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125 Old Broad Street, EC2N, formerly known as the Stock Exchange
Tower, acquired off-market from Blackstone
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The freehold 26-storey tower overlooks The Bank of England
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Fully tenanted and is Cushman & Wakefield’s European HQ with other
tenants including King & Spalding and China International Capital
Corporation
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) has advised Singapore-listed City
Developments Limited (CDL) on the off-market acquisition of 125 Old
Broad Street, London EC2N (125 OBS), for £385 million from Blackstone
Group LP (Blackstone). The deal represents one the largest single asset
sales in the City of London this year.
The property occupies a rare large freehold island site of 0.70 acres,
in the heart of the City of London, directly overlooking the Bank of
England. Once the home of the London Stock Exchange, following a
significant redevelopment in 2008, the building now comprises 329,200 sq
ft of Grade A office retail and ancillary accommodation arranged over
three basement levels, ground floor, mezzanine and 26 upper tower floors.
Frank Khoo, CDL Group Chief Investment Officer, said: “In line
with our strategy to grow our recurring income significantly over the
next 10 years, this is our second London commercial property acquisition
in 2018. We have confidence in the long-term fundamentals of London as a
global financial hub with a robust office market. The short-term
uncertainties surrounding Brexit have presented us opportunities to
acquire assets with deep value. Capitalising on attractive pricing and
yields, we have continued to expand our London commercial portfolio
through strategic off-market acquisitions of high performance assets.
The tightening of London’s existing office stock and limited new supply
will also drive rental growth into 2021. Given its excellent location in
a diverse business district, 125 Old Broad Street will continue to
attract a strong tenant mix from the finance, legal, insurance and
technology/media/telecommunications sectors.”
Andrew Hawkins, International Partner at Cushman & Wakefield said:
“We
were delighted to be tasked by CDL to find them an off-market core plus
asset where they could add value. We identified 125 Old Broad Street as
having the correct attributes and we’re pleased to have worked with CDL,
Blackstone and BH2 in delivering this, without recourse to competition,
at an attractive price.”
125 OBS is fully let to 21 internationally renowned office occupiers
including Cushman & Wakefield, King & Spalding and China International
Capital Corporation.
Central London’s office market is enjoying a robust performance at
present with the strongest quarterly leasing volume for three years and
year-to-date take-up is 9.2 million sq ft, up 8% on last year. Space
under offer is 27% above the 10-year average and the vacancy rate is
4.7%, below many global gateway cities.
Cushman & Wakefield, CMS (Lawyers) and KPMG (Tax) advised City
Developments Limited (CDL). BH2 and BCLP (Lawyers) advised Blackstone
Group LP (Blackstone), the vendor.
About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global real estate services
firm that delivers exceptional value by putting ideas into action for
real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the
largest real estate services firms with 48,000 employees in
approximately 400 offices and 70 countries. In 2017, the firm had
revenue of $6.9 billion across core services of property, facilities and
project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other
services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com
or follow @CushWake
on Twitter.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to
create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors,
the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do
this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help
companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with
approximately $440 billion in assets under management, include
investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt
and equity, noninvestment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds,
all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com.
Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181127005717/en/
For Further Information Contact:
Lauren Joselyn
Communications
Manager
+44 20 3296 3034
Lauren.joselyn@cushwake.com
Source: Cushman & Wakefield