Administrators take control at 5 Churchill Place

Administrators have been appointed for 5 Churchill Place, E14, a 313,000 sq ft office block on the Canary Wharf Estate. FTI Consulting has been appointed to oversee the administration on behalf of the syndicate of senior lenders. The long leasehold of the 12-storey building is currently owned by Jovial, a vehicle owned by Cheung Kei Group. FTI will now act as fixed-charge receiver over the shares of Jovial Link Holdings and ManCo, which provides the property management function to the property on behalf of Jovial. Cheung Kei Group bought the building for a reported £270m in 2017. Before that it was owned by Said Holdings, which bought the former Bear Stearns headquarters from Canary Wharf Group in January 2010 for £208m. The building, which was constructed in 2009, sits at the gateway to Canary Wharf’s mixed-use Wood Wharf district. The majority of the space is leased to financial services companies, including lead tenant JP Morgan Chase. FTI, alongside the existing property manager BNP Paribas Real Estate and asset manager JLL, said suppliers and tenants would be contacted over the next few days to provide additional information and guidance in relation to the administration process. Ali Khaki, a senior managing director at FTI and one of the joint administrators said: “We do not expect the administration of ManCo, or the fixed-charge receivership over the shares of Jovial, to have any operational impact at Churchill Place, which will continue to operate on a business-as-usual basis. As part of this I can confirm that the property manager (BNP PRE) and the asset nanager (JLL) will remain in situ, ensuring the continued smooth running of Churchill Place going forward.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews