IVG tipped to buy London's 'Gherkin' for almost EUR 891 mln

The Asticus unit of Germany's IVG Immobilien has won the battle to buy the landmark 'Erotic Gherkin' skyscraper in the City of London from reinsurer Swiss Re for close to £600 mln (EUR 891 mln), UK newspaper Sunday Times has reported. Without citing any sources, the paper said Swiss Re is expected to make a £200 mln profit on the sale of the building. A spokesperson for IVG declined to comment on the report.

The skyscraper comprises 90,000 m² of office space, with a public a viewing platform at 1,000 feet (305 m). It is the second tallest building in the City of London, after NatWest's Tower 42.

There has been a real buzz about the building at 30 St Mary Axe since Swiss Re put it on the market in September. Over a fifth of the district is already in the hands of German investors and non-UK companies own more than half of all the office space in the Square Mile. It would be a potent symbol of this trend should IVG buy the iconic 180-metre 'Gherkin'.

The tower is located at the former site of the historic Baltic Exchange building, which was severely damaged when the Provisional IRA, an Irish Republican paramilitary organisation, detonated a massive bomb in the area in April 2002. It was originally hoped the building could be restored but the severity of the damage and a lack of funds led to the sale of the site to the Trafalgar House property group.

In 1996 Trafalgar House raised more than a few eyebrows when it unveiled plan by architect Lord Norman Foster for a 370-metre-high, 41-storey round office building with a tampered top. Sub-editors at British newspaper The Guardian newspaper coined the term 'erotic gherkin' as a description of the building's unusual floor plan. The name has stuck despite the fact Trafalgar House modified the design plans.

Other more playful nicknames include the Towering Innuendo and the Crystal Phallus - a clear reference to the building’s unique cone-like shape.