L&G lines up £300m Sanctuary Buildings buy

Legal & General is in advanced discussions to buy the Sanctuary Buildings in Westminster, SW1, for circa £300m from Hana Alternative Asset Management, EG understands. L&G is in line to buy the 227,000 sq ft office block from the investment arm of Hana Financial Group, roughly one year after the South Korean investor acquired the office from Blackstone for around £280m. The deal between Hana Alternative Asset Management and Blackstone reflected a net initial yield of 4.2%. Blackstone first acquired the property from Tishman Speyer in 2014 for £175m – representing a circa 5.6% yield – when the DfE had only around three years left on its lease. The Sanctuary Buildings will be the latest in a series of government-let office acquisitions that L&G has made. EG revealed last year in August that the investor bought a Government Property Agency hub in Leeds for £211m from Hermes Investment Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. A month later in September, L&G bought another GPA hub in Leeds, the 373,913 sq ft Quarry House, for £243m, from R20. Hana instructed JLL to find a buyer for the property last year. To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette