Hong Kong’s Manhattan takes 5 Fleet Place for £191m
Manhattan Garments Group has bought 5 Fleet Place, EC4, from Poly Global for £191m.
The deal, which saw Manhattan buy all the shares of the Jersey-based company that owns the asset, marks the Hong Kong-based investor’s first solo purchase in the UK. The price reflects a net initial yield of around 4%.
The 130,500 sq ft building was built by British Land in 2007 as part of the Fleet Place Estate, and has been the headquarters of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys ever since. Poly Global acquired the building from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in January 2016 and spent £4m refurbishing the lower part of the property. Other occupiers include PayPal and accounting firm Wilson Wright.
Manhattan Garments Group has bought 5 Fleet Place, EC4, from Poly Global for £191m.
The deal, which saw Manhattan buy all the shares of the Jersey-based company that owns the asset, marks the Hong Kong-based investor’s first solo purchase in the UK. The price reflects a net initial yield of around 4%.
The 130,500 sq ft building was built by British Land in 2007 as part of the Fleet Place Estate, and has been the headquarters of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys ever since. Poly Global acquired the building from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in January 2016 and spent £4m refurbishing the lower part of the property. Other occupiers include PayPal and accounting firm Wilson Wright.
Poly had instructed JLL to sell the building in 2020 but postponed the process during the pandemic. The building was relaunched again at the end of 2021.
James Tien, of Manhattan Garments Group, said: “5 Fleet Place is the type of high-quality investment we want to be making in London. The building has extremely strong credentials. Its excellent base build, strong tenancy profile and longer-term reversionary potential make it a very attractive long-term investment for us.”
Manhattan’s previous foray into the capital was in 2018, when it teamed up with Wing Tai to buy 30 Gresham Street, EC2.
Allsop and Millennium Group, which together manage more than £3.2bn on behalf of Asian investors, will manage 5 Fleet Place along with Mapp.
Christopher Room, partner at Allsop, said: “5 Fleet Place is a landmark building that provides exceptional office space in one of the world’s leading business hotspots.
“It is one of many landmark transactions to complete during the first quarter of 2022, showing that despite travel corridor restrictions, appetite from Asian investors for real estate in central London is still incredibly strong, especially for high-quality income-producing assets.”
Allsop, Millennium Group, Mayer Brown and Deloitte advised Manhattan; JLL, CBRE, Taylor Wessing, and EY Global acted on behalf of Poly.
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