A Middle Eastern investor has bought a 58,517sqft London office from AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets for £73.8m (€86m).
AXA IM - Real Assets’ Pan-European Value-Added Venture (PEVAV I) fund sold the ten-storey 20 St Andrew Street office building in Holborn to the private client of National Bank of Kuwait International.
AXA IM - Real Assets said the asset was originally acquired in February 2015 and has since undergone a significant asset management plan overseen by Morgan Capital Partners.
The manager said the disposal is directly in line with the AXA IM - Real Assets’ value-added strategy to invest in and “create value from underperforming assets” with inherently core qualities through a range of “asset refurbishment and repositioning activities”.
Ian Chappell, head of value-add and development funds at AXA IM - Real Assets, said: “This disposal is a fine example of both our ability to deliver on our stated value-add strategy and to the market-leading expertise of the AXA IM - Real Assets’ investment and asset management teams, who worked hard alongside Morgan Capital Partners to secure a property with such attractive growth prospects and then to transform it into the well-let Grade A asset we’ve brought to market.
”We look forward to continuing this value-creation strategy on behalf of our clients in PEVAV II, our second value-added venture.”
Bassam Khazen, manager of commercial real estate investments for National Bank of Kuwait International, said: “This acquisition demonstrates sustained appetite by Middle Eastern investors for high quality, income-producing commercial real estate in core locations across Central London.”
