HSBC, Europe's largest bank by market value, has confirmed it plans to sell its London headquarters in Canary Wharf through a sale-and-leaseback agreement. The building is expected to fetch up to £1 bn (EUR 1.5 bn), making it the most expensive single office building in Britain.

HSBC, Europe's largest bank by market value, has confirmed it plans to sell its London headquarters in Canary Wharf through a sale-and-leaseback agreement. The building is expected to fetch up to £1 bn (EUR 1.5 bn), making it the most expensive single office building in Britain.

Although the financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed, it is understood that HSBC will continue to occupy the office with a 15-year lease at a rent of about £45 mln per year.

Located at 8 Canada Square, the 200-metre high tower has 102,193 m2 of office space spread over 45 storeys. The deal is aimed to tap the city's rising property prices. 'Demand for property in the UK is quite good and we're reviewing the matter,' Vinh Tran, a Hong Kong-based HSBC spokeswoman said on Monday.

'The property market in the UK has been booming and that's one of the options we're looking at,' he added. The decision to sell the building designed by Norman Foster was made at a board meeting on the advice of property advisor CB Richard Ellis, Tran said.

Yesterday German property fund IVG confirmed it had acquired another London landmark - the 'Gherkin' - for EUR 950 mln, in a 50/50 joint venture with Evans Randall.