Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), the UK-based asset manager, is said to be the front runner to acquire the London headquarters of charity, Save the Children.
According to sources, RLAM submitted a bid in the region of £115 mln (€133 mln) for the 8,270 m2 Grade A office located at One St John’s Lane, Farringdon.
The building has attracted substantial interest since being put up for sale by Aberdeen Standard Investments earlier this year with the likes of CBRE Global Investors, BlackRock, PGIM, and Helical among those submitting bids in the second round. The building is now under offer.
Knight Frank is the agent but declined to comment. RLAM also declined to comment.
As previously reported, the asking price of £95 mln (€110 mln) has been surpassed with at least seven bids having been made on the 19th of May for the office spread over four floors.
The building has a single lease to Save the Children until September 2028, meaning there is 7.4 years unexpired.
Unusually, the building is subject to rare annual rental increases in line with RPI, subject to a minimum uplift of 2% per annum.
The passing rent of £4,094,006 per annum, reflects a very low average of £46 per ft2.
Such credentials help explain the interest shown in the property. Sources said it has received dozens of inspections.
The vendor is offering a rental top-up to the minimum 2023 level.
The HQ is located in Farringdon, one of London’s dynamic centres for start-ups and global organisations such as Amazon and TikTok, the latter paying around £90 per ft2 at Kaleidoscope, London EC1.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors are sub-let to AKQA Limited until December 2023. AKQA is a global design and innovation agency whose parent, advertising giant WPP, generated revenues of £13.2 bn and profits of £624 mln in the year ending December 2019.
A transformer chamber on the upper ground level is let to London Power Networks until January 2101 at a rent of £0.05 per annum.
Save the Children is a global charity working in 117 countries. In 2019, it had donations of £307 mln, an increase of £4 mln on the previous year.
AKQA is a global design and innovation agency. The parent company, WPP, generated revenues of £13.2 bn and profits of £624 mln in the year ending December 2019.
