Blackstone buys London's Alban Gate for €380m

US private equity group Blackstone has completed the acquisition of the Alban Gate office building in the City of London from alternative asset manager Carlyle for £300 mln (€380 mln), reflecting a yield of 6%.

Alban Gate is located on London Wall in the heart of the City, comprising 382,000 sq ft (35,500 m2) of office space over 22 floors.

Since Carlyle acquired the property it has been fully let to JP Morgan, which undertook an extensive refurbishment and earlier this year sub-let much of the space to law firm Nabarros.

This is the fourth exit Carlyle has made from the portfolio of six landmark central London properties that were formerly part of the White Tower 2006-3 plc CMBS, which it acquired in July 2010 for £671 mln. The transaction follows the sales of Millennium Bridge House in November 2013 for £87.6 mln, 60 Victoria Embankment in June 2011 and the BSI tower in Chiswick in September 2010 for £30.5 mln.

Carlyle will continue to hold the two remaining assets in the portfolio, the Sampson House data-centre and Ludgate House office, which are located immediately south of Blackfriars Bridge, opposite the City of London. The company received planning permission earlier this year to develop a major 1.4 million sq ft residential and office regeneration project in place of the existing two buildings and is currently seeking a funding partner to progress the development, which has been launched as ‘Bankside Quarter’.

Carlyle acquired the White Tower portfolio on behalf of its third pan-European real estate fund, Carlyle European Real Estate Partners III.

Commenting on the disposal, Mark Harris, managing director at The Carlyle Group, said: 'The sale of Alban Gate represents another excellent outcome for investors, with the strength of the current market allowing us to achieve a good price on an asset that we acquired in a portfolio deal at an opportune time in the market cycle.'