Irish wealth manager Jaguar Capital has sold a prime office property in the City of London known as Thames Court for £183 mln (EUR 273 mln) to an unnamed US financial institution. At the same time, it has bought another London office property called Becket House for £98 million (EUR 146 mln) from a UK syndicator whose name it declined to disclose.
Irish wealth manager Jaguar Capital has sold a prime office property in the City of London known as Thames Court for £183 mln (EUR 273 mln) to an unnamed US financial institution. At the same time, it has bought another London office property called Becket House for £98 million (EUR 146 mln) from a UK syndicator whose name it declined to disclose.
Jaguar bought Thames Court in 2004 for £129 mln. 'The prime location and specifications of the property position it ideally to benefit from the recent strong recovery in central London rents,' Jaguar's head of property investment Dermot Maguire said in a press release. 'Furthermore, yield contraction has significantly boosted the value. However, with the two main leases approaching just 10 years to break, it was decided prudent to realise the profit on this investment.'
The Becket House property is located on London's South Bank near Waterloo station. The 146,000 sq. ft (14,000 m2) building is let to Ernst & Young for a further 19 years. Jaguar said that with the rental gap between the South Bank and the West End widening further, it expects Becket House to be well positioned to take advantage of substantial rental growth upside, particularly in light of some major development schemes planned for the area. Jaguar noted that prime South Bank rents currently amount to about £45/50 per square foot compared with £75 per square foot in the West End’s Victoria area and over £100 per square foot in Mayfair. Becket House’s rental level currently stands at just £36 per square foot.
Jaguar’s Maguire said Beckett House is an 'ideal medium to long term investment in a secure environment with excellent rental growth prospects. Also, with prime office yields now close to 4% we feel that Becket House represents good value at an initial yield of 4.56%, particularly in view of the timing of the next rent-review, which falls due in September 2009.'
CB Richard Ellis represented Jaguar in both deals.