Lebanese group M1 Real Estate has acquired Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square, London from Irish-based Moritz Group for about £175 mln (EUR 201 mln). Jones Lang LaSalle, which advised M1, said this was the largest office deal in the West End market since 2007. 'M1 secured the deal in front of 10 other institutional bidders due to its funding capacity, its track record, and its team credibility,' the property adviser said.
Lebanese group M1 Real Estate has acquired Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square, London from Irish-based Moritz Group for about £175 mln (EUR 201 mln). Jones Lang LaSalle, which advised M1, said this was the largest office deal in the West End market since 2007. 'M1 secured the deal in front of 10 other institutional bidders due to its funding capacity, its track record, and its team credibility,' the property adviser said.
M1 last struck in London in October 2009 when it acquired Credit Suisse's headquarters in Canary Wharf in a deal said to be valued at about £150 mln.
Victoria House is a 28,000-m2 office, retail and leisure investment occupying the east side of Bloomsbury Square. The art deco Midtown office block was built in 1929 and fully redeveloped to a class A standard office building for a sum in excess of £50 mln. It is more than 50% let to government backed tenants, with a weighted average term of 9.5 years.
JLL said the property, a prominent island site, is the latest addition to M1 Real Estate’s existing portfolio of income-generating and development-oriented assets in London. These include properties in Cadogan Square, Cadogan Gardens, Grosvenor Place, Pall Mall, and the recently acquired freehold of 20 Columbus Courtyard, part of the Credit Suisse UK Headquarters Complex. M1 Real Estate’s international assets include investments in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
Moritz have being investing in the London market over the past eight years and have bought and sold a number of property investments in this period. The group intends to keep a foothold in the London property market and continues to hold a number of other prime investment properties in the capital city. The Group has it main base in Ireland but also holds assets in Bucharest, Romania. CB Richard Ellis advised Moritz.
Moustapha El Solh, M1 Real Estate CEO, commented: 'Victoria House sits perfectly within our strategy to build upon our portfolio of prime assets in major cities around the world. We’re extremely pleased with the acquisition, the real estate and investment fundamentals make sense and most importantly Victoria House has an imposing history and architecture.'
