Beltane AM acquires City of London office property

Beltane Asset Management, has purchased St Paul's House, Warwick Lane from Grange Hotels, its second City of London acquisition in less than two months.

The purchase price of the 3,500-m² office on Warwick Lane, close to the London Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, was not disclosed but is understood to be close to £12 mln (almost EUR 15 mln). This transaction follows the purchase of Pellipar House in Cloak Lane, London from ING in an off-market transaction at the end of June.

St Paul's House was previously the head office of accountant Moore Stephens and consists of a lower ground, ground and five upper floors. Moore Stephens recently relocated to 150 Aldersgate Street EC1 which has enabled Beltane to begin a complete refurbishment of the vacant building.

Beltane is a new investment and asset management company set up by former City agents Jonathan Chenery and Duncan Roe. Chenery and Roe have almost 30 years experience in commercial agency and asset management between them. They set up Beltane earlier this year to target assets in the UK and Europe, with a specific focus on the City of London.

Chenery, said: 'Two acquisitions in less than two months demonstrates our continued appetite for City property and our financial firepower and acumen to get deals done and complete transactions quickly. We completed both purchased within 20 working days. We are a cash buyer for further active management opportunities with individual lot sizes of between £10 mln and £50 mln. We also have the capacity to consider larger lots and portfolio opportunities.'

Beltane Asset Management was represented by Michael Elliott and Montagu Evans advised Grange Hotels.