Beijing Capital buys London office asset from Warburg-HIH Invest

Beijing Capital has bought a London office asset from Warburg-HIH Invest.

The Chinese state-owned investor paid £65.5m (€90m) for the Friary Court building in London’s City district.

Hamburg-based Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate said it sold the asset to BCDH Capital Holding, which was acting on behalf of state-owned Beijing Capital Development Holding.

Warburg-HIH Invest, which held the asset in a closed-end fund, sold the building due to a “very favourable market situation”.

A significant double-digit return on equity will be made by the sale, it said.

Andreas Schultz, managing director of Warburg-HIH Invest, said: “Having acquired the property during a slow market cycle at the peak of the financial crisis, we now took advantage of the sellers’ market and sold the asset to a price exceeding about 50% the purchasing price we paid.

“We are very happy the appreciation the British pound realised against the euro since the property’s acquisition until now increases our investors’ success even more.

“Inversely, the buyer may count on long-term security of income from the property because of the still long remaining lease term and the anticipated appreciation of the surrounding area due to several project developments.”

HIH Global Invest, now Warburg-HIH Invest, bought the asset, let to law firm Holman Fenwick Willan, in 2009.