LONDON-Two funds managed by JP Morgan Asset Management have purchased the holding company that owns the 774,000-square-foot Bishops Square office building for $870 million. The holding firm had been owned by a joint venture of Hammerson plc and Oman Investment Fund, an arm of Omani Government Investment.

The building was completed in 2005, developed by a joint venture of Hammerson and the city of London. Law firm Allen & Overy LLP leases the entire office portion, and there’s also about 50,000 square feet of retail. The building is in the city’s financial district.

Hammerson bought out the city in 2007, and then sold 75% of the holding company to Omani in June 2009. The locally-based Hammerson says it expects to gain about $124 million from the sale. “This disposal fits with our strategy of creating value through portfolio management,” said David Atkins, CEO, in a statement. “We are capitalizing on the market recovery over the past 15 months.”

Peter Reilly, head of JP Morgan’s European Real Estate Group, said the long-leased Bishops Square fits the company’s acquisition criteria perfectly. “We remain bullish on investing in high quality, well-tenanted office properties located throughout Europe’s most important cities, and this acquisition represents a further expansion of our funds’ core property portfolio in Europe.”

Hammerson and Omani were advised by Clifford Chance and Jones Lang LaSalle. Berwin Leighton Paisner and Deloitte represented the buyer in the transaction.