Lebanese firm buys in London's West End

Lebanese property investment company M1 Group has acquired the freehold of Times Place at 45 Pall Mall in London's West End from Legal & General. Located in St James's, Times Place covers a total area of 60,000 sq ft (5,500 m2) and was completed as a new development by City & West End Property Group in 1997. The property is fully let to high-quality tenants and will generate a yield of over 7.8% this year.

'Although the London real estate market, like many cities around the world, is currently seeing one of its worst downturns, we believe that making investments in prime assets with strong fundamentals is a sound long-term strategy,' said M1 Real Estate CEO, Moustapha El-Solh.

He added: 'The current market situation means that Times Place represents good value now and, moreover, has the potential to deliver significant value over the long term. We are actively seeking similar investment opportunities in all of our core target markets.'

M1's strong financial position and its ability to finance the deal entirely with equity played to the firm's advantage in the highly competitive auction process, the group said.

M1 Real Estate was represented by Fineman Ross, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, and Barclays Wealth. The vendor was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle and Eversheds.

Philip Jeffcock, Real Estate Director at Barclays Wealth, added: 'We introduced this opportunity to M1 and have been impressed by the speed at which they were able to put the deal together. We believe the current market distress offers overseas clients a unique opportunity to acquire prime freehold assets in London and we are currently working on a number of other similar transactions.'