LONDON—Just a week after buying the tallest building in the United States, Blackstone Group has entered an agreement with the UK's Land Securities to purchase the firm's 95% stake in Times Square, London, EC4. The deal was worth, $399.44 million (£268.4M), and it is expected to be completed at the end of July.
The 380,000 sq ft office building at 160-162 Queen Victoria Street is fully leased to six office tenants, including Bank of New York Mellon and law firm Dechert, until 2023.
"We've recently carried out some lease re-gearing activity at Times Square, and its sale reflects our strategy of recycling capital into our significant development program," said Colette O'Shea, managing director, London Portfolio at Land Securities.
Anthony Myers, head of Real Estate Europe at Blackstone, said: "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 center of a global gateway city."
Strutt & Parker acted on behalf of Land Securities and BNP Paribas advised Blackstone.
Land Securities is the UK's largest listed commercial property company and a member of the FTSE 100. The company owns and manages more than 25 million sq ft of property, from shopping centers to offices, valued at nearly $20 billion (£13 billion+).
As reported in GlobeSt last week, Blackstone recently agreed to spend $1.3 billion for the iconic Willis Tower in Chicago.
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