Aberdeen Standard walks away from City office deal
Aberdeen Standard Investments has backed out of buying 90 Bartholomew Close, EC1, from Helical.
The company had seen off strong competition to become the preferred bidder for the office block in Farringdon. More than 50 potential bidders showed interest in the property.
It bid £51m, around £7m more than the original asking price of £44m, reflecting a 3.9% yield.
Aberdeen Standard Investments has backed out of buying 90 Bartholomew Close, EC1, from Helical.
The company had seen off strong competition to become the preferred bidder for the office block in Farringdon. More than 50 potential bidders showed interest in the property.
It bid £51m, around £7m more than the original asking price of £44m, reflecting a 3.9% yield.
The 30,929 sq ft property was put up for sale in January after a major revamp by Helical completed in 2018. The guide price reflected a 4.5% yield.
It is let to six tenants, including Eric Salmon & Partners, Northridge and Constantine Cannon, providing around £2m of annual income. The weighted unexpired term is around eight years, with just under six years to the first break.
Helical is not expected to bring the property back to the market for the foreseeable future.
Helical declined to comment.
The news comes as Aberdeen Standard Investments joined a growing list of fund managers in suspending trading in their UK property funds as worries over the economic effect of the spreading coronavirus will have on property values.
The firm suspended its £1.7bn Standard Life Investments UK Real Estate Fund and £1.1bn Aberdeen UK Property Fund.
A spokesman said: “This action reflects the exceptional circumstances in global markets, including the UK property market as Covid-19 spreads, and the need to protect client interests by suspending trading when there is material uncertainty regarding how the assets should be valued.”
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