Barings has sold 7-10 Waterloo Place property located in London, UK, to Cara Real Estate, for €85.3m (£71m). Barings acquired the c. 35,000ft² Grade II-listed mixed-use building for €42m (£35m) in 2014. The company subsequently undertook an extensive asset management initiative to reposition the building and restore its historic features, culminating in a high-quality, modern office space. The property is rated BREEAM Excellent and was placed on shortlists for the 2017 BREEAM Awards in the Offices (Refurbishment and Fit-out) category and the 2018 Office Agents Society Awards for Best West End Refurbishment / Regeneration.
The asset benefitted from the comprehensive refurbishment plan with Barings securing long-term lettings with Brewin Dolphin, Harbour Litigation Funding Limited, Apollo Tyres, Tourmaline Europe LLP and Imperial Treasure; as well as negotiating a head lease extension with the Crown Estate. The high-quality tenants have a WAULT in excess of 12 years to expiration.
Darren Hutchinson, Head of U.K. Real Estate Transactions at Barings, commented: “This sale marks the successful conclusion of our business plan at Waterloo Place to restore what is a truly special building in an enviable St. James’s location. By repositioning this asset we have been able to attract an outstanding tenant base on long leases while driving rental growth, which has enabled us to crystallise strong returns on behalf of our investors.”
Nick Pink, Head of Fund Management – Europe at Barings, added: “We have undertaken a busy programme of sales in the UK over the last two years as business plans have come to fruition. With the UK and London now offering an interesting relative value proposition in a pan European context, we expect to be active on the buy side once again over the year ahead, with appetite from core to value add.”
Klaus Schupp, Managing Director at Cara, commented: “7-10 Waterloo Place is a fantastic addition to our generational portfolio and fits our long-term strategy of investing in high quality, trophy assets in leading global cities across Western Europe and the United States.”
