Cordea Savills sells City of London office building for £47.97 million

By Bridging Loan Directory 4th February 2015

Cordea Savills, on behalf of its European Commercial Fund, has sold Camomile Court in London for £47.97 million to a French pension fund, which has entrusted a real estate mandate to AXA Real Estate.

The 76,632 sq ft (circa 7,119 s qm), Grade A office asset comprises seven storeys, plus a basement office, situated in a prime location within the City of London, was acquired by ECF in early 2012 with 20,000 sq ft of vacant space. The asset benefits from its close proximity to Liverpool Street’s existing tube and train station and will be further advantaged by the new Crossrail terminal which is due to open in 2018. It is now fully let to six tenants with strong covenants and an average lease length of 4.4 years. The asset, which was built in 1990, underwent a major renovation in 2009, giving it a BREEAM In-Use ‘Good’ rating.

The European Commercial Fund completed its initial investment phase in 2014 at total investment volume of more than EUR 750m invested in 20 properties. Active Asset Management in order to secure a stable distribution of c. 5% p.a. which has been achieved since inception of the fund is the main focus of the Fund Management now.

Gerhard Lehner, Head of Portfolio Management, Germany, at Cordea Savills, said:

“With the sale of this property the fund is realising a value gain of more than 40%. This is the fruit of active Asset Management but does also anticipate future rental growth perspectives. For the reinvestment of the returned equity we have already identified suitable core office properties.”

Kiran Patel, Chief Investment Office at Cordea Savills, added:

“The sale of Camomile Court adds to the GBP370m portfolio disposal early in the year. Together with a number of other asset sales, our total UK transaction activity since January stands at £450m. At this stage of the cycle, we believe there is merit in banking performance and taking advantage of some of the strong demand for assets in the market.”