Feldberg Capital has completed the first transaction for its new ReForm Fund, with the purchase of 8 Bloomsbury Street in London WC1 from an undisclosed institutional investor.
The ReForm Fund will transition brown office to green workplace and targets amenity-rich central London growth locations with excellent connectivity, such as Soho, Fitzrovia, Marylebone and Bloomsbury.
The fund has received significant backing from a cornerstone UK institutional investor, achieving first close in October of this year. The fund has a fundraising target of £300 mln (€350 mln), which will provide firepower of around £500 mln including leverage.
8 Bloomsbury Street, which was refurbished by architects Buckley Gray Yeoman in 2017, will receive further retrofit to provide tenants with bespoke, fully-fitted, best-in-class green workplace across 33,448 ft2 (3,100 m2).
The building is located near the dynamic mix of retail, restaurants, bars and theatres of Fitzrovia, Soho and Covent Garden.
Robert Allen-Mersh, director at Feldberg Capital, said: 'We are seeing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in some of Central London’s best commercial real estate assets at very attractive values.
'This transaction demonstrates our ability to source opportunities of the highest quality in a tough market. 8 Bloomsbury Street is a high-quality building in an excellent location a short walk from Tottenham Court Road Station, but requires significant ESG improvement works to create a best-in-class green workplace asset.
'This is an excellent first acquisition for the Fund as we look to assemble a unique Central London portfolio with an attractive pipeline.'
David Turner, managing partner at Feldberg Capital, said: ‘The London office market provides one of the most attractive risk adjusted investment opportunities in Europe. Rarely does such value exist in a global gateway city, but the window may close quickly as interest rates fall.’
The ReForm Fund is one of the first UK funds to link a proportion of the manager’s performance fees to pre-determined ESG targets, creating significant alignment between investors’ ESG ambitions and financial returns.
Feldberg Capital (which recently acquired London real estate investment management business formerly known as Brunswick Property Partners) has a successful track record of London-focused investment ventures, including Akoya, a £500 mln London neighbourhood workplace strategy in partnership with a global sovereign wealth fund focusing on sustainability, occupier wellbeing and local community.
Comprising 750,000 ft2 and 160 tenants, the Akoya platform is aligning with Science Based Targets, aiming to be net zero for scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions by 2040.
Knight Frank advised Feldberg Capital and Savills advised the institutional investor.
