Ivanhoé Cambridge buys London office property

Canada’s Ivanhoé Cambridge has bought a trophy office building in central London.

The real estate arm of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec said it had paid £170m (€238m) for 3 Minster Court in the City district of the UK capital.

The 275,000sqft property, built in the 1990s by Prudential, is let to the London Underwriting Centre.

Meka Brunel, executive vice president for Europe at Ivanhoé Cambridge, said: “3 Minster Court meets our investment objective to build critical mass of high-quality assets in London. We believe we can add value to the property over time.”

The asset’s location, Brunel said, is one of the ”most sought-after office markets” in London.

The deal follows the Canadian institutional investor’s £122m purchase of Stonecutter Court from Hines Global REIT late last year.

Another London property, Woolgate Exchange, was last year sold by Ivanhoé Cambridge to Cathay Life Insurance, less than two years after purchase.