Schroder Real Estate has invested £187.5m (€243m) in the London office market on behalf a joint venture between Zurich Investment Foundation and an unnamed partner.

Schroders bought 55 Bishopsgate in the City of London for the Swiss institution’s Immobilien Europa Direkt open-ended fund and a “strategic partner”.

Schroders said the 198,000sqft building was sold by the Capital London Fund, which was advised by TH Real Estate and CBRE.

The Capital London Fund was originally set up in 2006 as a joint venture between the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and NN Group (formerly ING Insurance), where the former owned the majority (80%) stake. It was not disclosed whether NN was still an investor in 55 Bishopsgate at the time of the transaction.

Duncan Owen, global head of real estate at Schroders, said the asset was a “high quality, multi-let building in a core City of London location that offers scope for value-enhancing asset management”.

“The strategy is to undertake a refurbishment to take advantage a strong occupier market,” he said.

“The property is also situated within the City of London’s ‘Tower Cluster’ and offers the medium-term opportunity for redevelopment and to significantly increase massing.”

The Immobilien Europa Direkt fund has been investing on behalf of Swiss institutional investors in Western European markets as part an €800m diversified commercial real estate drive. 

Last year, the fund invested in central Madrid, spending €25m on a 5,700sqm asset in Calle Fuencarral.

French and German assets have also been bought by the fund, including a retail gallery near Bordeaux.

Topics

Related Companies