Germany's Cara acquires London listed building for €85m

The property at 7-10 Waterloo Place was sold on behalf of an institutional investor. The transaction volume reflects a net initial yield of 4.06%.

Klaus Schupp, managing director at Cara, said: '7-10 Waterloo Place is a fantastic addition to our generational portfolio and fits our long-term strategy of investing in high quality, trophy assets in leading global cities across Western Europe and the United States.'

The purchase of 7-10 Waterloo Place marks Cara’s second London acquisition. In 2018, Cara acquired 20 Soho Square, W1 for £117 mln.

Barings bought the 35,000 ft2 (3,250 m2) mixed-use asset for £35 mln in 2014, before repositioning the building and restoring its historic features to create a modern office property.

Rated BREEAM Excellent, it was subsequently let to Brewin Dolphin, Harbour Litigation Funding Limited, Apollo Tyres, Tourmaline Europe LLP and Imperial Treasure, while a head-lease extension was also negotiated with the Crown Estate. The average weighted remained lease term exceeds 12 years.

Darren Hutchinson, Head of UK real estate transactions at Barings, commented: 'This sale marks the successful conclusion of our business plan at Waterloo Place to restore what is a truly special building in an enviable St. James’s location.

'By repositioning this asset we have been able to attract an outstanding tenant base on long leases while driving rental growth, which has enabled us to crystallise strong returns on behalf of our investors.'

Nick Pink, head of fund management – Europe at Barings, added: 'We have undertaken a busy programme of sales in the UK over the last two years as business plans have come to fruition. With the UK and London now offering an interesting relative value proposition in a pan European context, we expect to be active on the buy side once again over the year ahead, with appetite from core to value add.'