The Sanahuja family is reportedly the frontrunner in the public auction to buy the £1bn HSBC head office in Canary Wharf, daily the Financial Times said. The Catalan family, through its investment vehicle Cresa, is said to have made the highest offer in the auction. 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.
The Sanahuja family is reportedly the frontrunner in the public auction to buy the £1bn HSBC head office in Canary Wharf, daily the Financial Times said. The Catalan family, through its investment vehicle Cresa, is said to have made the highest offer in the auction. 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.
The Sanahujas are the majority shareholders in Metrovacesa, Spain's biggest real estate company, and own minor stakes in a number of other Spanish companies. The family is known for the year-long battle for control of Metrovacesa, which ended up with a plan separating the company into a Spanish and a French unit. Under the plan, the Sanahujas will retain control of the Spanish properties, while rival Joaquin Rivero, Metrovacesa's chairman, will control the French assets through Gecina, a French company 68%-owned by Metrovacesa.
The HSBC head office's sale will take the form of a sale-and-leaseback 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).