UK financial services group Prudential is the frontrunner in the public auction to buy HSBC bank's head office in London's Canary Wharf, researchers at merchant bank Kempen & Co have claimed. The property was put on the market last February with a price tag of £800 mln (EUR 1.2 bn). Market watchers believe it could now fetch as much as £1 bn, becoming the most expensive office building in the UK. Other investors included in the final shortlist of bidders according to Kemp & Co are UK real estate investment manager Prupim, two US investment funds and a private Middle Eastern buyer. The auction is expected to be conclude this week.
UK financial services group Prudential is the frontrunner in the public auction to buy HSBC bank's head office in London's Canary Wharf, researchers at merchant bank Kempen & Co have claimed. The property was put on the market last February with a price tag of £800 mln (EUR 1.2 bn). Market watchers believe it could now fetch as much as £1 bn, becoming the most expensive office building in the UK. Other investors included in the final shortlist of bidders according to Kemp & Co are UK real estate investment manager Prupim, two US investment funds and a private Middle Eastern buyer. The auction is expected to be conclude this week.
As reported earlier, HSBC received 15 offers for its Canary Wharf head office. The sale will take the form of a sale-and-lease-back deal, allowing HSBC to remain headquartered in Canary Wharf, in return for £43 mln rent per annum. The 45-storey, 200-metre tower was designed by Lord Foster. Construction began in 1997 and was completed in 2002. It is the second-largest tower in the UK after the neighbouring Citigroup Centre, with trading room floor plates of around 45,000 sq ft (4,180 m2).
