Blackstone Group LP has agreed to purchase an office building in the heart of London’s financial district, “Times Square”, for £268.4 million from Land Securities Group Plc.
Land Securities will retain a five per cent stake in the 380,000 square ft building located near Blackfriars Station.
The office building rents space to tenants including Bank of New York Mellon Corp and law firm Dechert, according to Land Securities.
The building generates around £13.5m in rent annually.
The acquisition represents Blackstone’s fourth investment in London as part of its Core+ strategy
Last year Blackstone started raising “core plus” funds to buy high-quality properties that require light renovations or modest leasing to boost returns.
Blackstone’s head of real estate Europe, Anthony Myers, said in a statement:
“This is our fourth investment in London as part of Blackstone Property Partners’ Core+ strategy, following the most recent acquisition of 125 Old Broad Street.”
“Times Square fits the Core+ strategy extremely well as a high quality, well-leased asset in the centre of a global gateway city,”
Colette O’Shea, Managing Director of the London Portfolio at Land Securities, said:
“We’ve recently carried out some lease regearing activity at Times Square, and its sale reflects our strategy of recycling capital into our significant development programme,”
Blackstone agreed to acquire Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower earlier this month
Blackstone, based in New York, manages $81 billion of property and could have $100 billion of low-risk real estate within ten years, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman.
Earlier this month Blackstone agreed to acquire Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower, also known as the Sears Tower, for $1.3 billion – the largest purchase in history for an American office building outside New York.