Less than four years after acquiring it, Hong Kong-based CK Asset Holdings has sold the office tower at 5 Broadgate in London to South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) for £1.21 bn (€1.4 bn).
The deal confirms reports circulating in early December 2021 that the so-called groundscraper, which is fully let to Swiss investment bank UBS as its London headquarters, had been sold to NPS for £1.25 bn (€1.47 bn).
Colliers, which advised CK Asset Holdings on the disposal, said the deal is the second largest in London after the sale of the Walkie Talkie in 2017.
It noted that the transaction enables CK Asset to ‘unlock the underlying value of its investment, capture a sizeable gain and create value for its shareholders’.
In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday, CK Asset said it expected to book a gain of about £108 mln from the sale.
The Hong Kong firm bought the asset in 2018 from UK REIT British Land and Singaporean wealth fund GIC for £1 bn (€1.1 bn).
Andrew Thomas, Colliers’ head of international capital markets in London, said: ‘We continue to see international capital invested into London’s quality assets, and we were delighted to help our client identify this significant opportunity and exit it effectively.’
International law firm Clifford Chance advised CK Asset Holdings on the legal side of the transaction.
Developed in 2015 with a BREEAM Excellent rating, 5 Broadgate is located next to Liverpool Street railway station and comprises more than 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) of space over 12 floors.
UBS is committed to the building until 2035.
With the disposal of the property, CK Asset ‘will continue to look for new investment opportunities in different markets around the world, including Hong Kong and mainland [China],’ said Gerald Ma, a member of the company’s executive committee who led the transaction.
‘The whole world is our potential market,’ he added.
CK Asset Holdings is the flagship vehicle of the CK Hutchison Group, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate founded by Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s wealthiest tycoon. Formerly known as Cheung Kong Property Holdings, the company, operates as a property developer in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, the UK, continental Europe, Australia, Canada, and the US.
