Great Portland Estates (GPE) has acquired the long leasehold interest of Whittington House in London’s West End for £58.5m.
The 74,500 sq ft HQ office building is currently let on a short-term basis at an annual rent of circa £5.2m, with vacant possession expected in Q1 2025, at which point GPE will extensively refurbish the property.
The Richard Seifert & Partners designed building will offer eight floors of sustainable office space and feature market leading amenities following the refurbishment, which is expected to complete in Q1 2017.
Alexa Baden-Powell, senior investment manager at GPE, said: “Whittington House is our first HQ acquisition following our rights issue in May and meets all of our acquisition criteria. At a significant discount to replacement cost, the building has angles to exploit and our refurbishment will deliver high quality, sustainable space into a market that is increasingly starved of such supply. Together with the recent purchase of 19/23 Wells Street, we have invested £77.5m into new West End acquisitions in the last month, or £110m including the capex we intend to invest in both buildings, and our pipeline of further opportunities remains strong.”
Earlier today, GPE announced it has signed a new £150m ESG-linked unsecured revolving credit facility (RCF) at a headline margin of 90 basis points over SONIA. The facility has an initial three-year term which may be extended to a maximum of five years at GPE’s request, subject to bank consent.
Lloyds Bank, Bank of China and CaixaBank SA UK branch participated in the facility. Lloyds Bank acted as the documentation agent and sustainability coordinator.
Nick Sanderson, chief financial and operating officer at GPE, said: “We are delighted to have arranged this new facility with both existing and new relationship banks, demonstrating strong support for our focused strategy. Along with our recent rights issue and sustainable sterling bond, this facility provides further flexibility for us to capitalise on the exciting pipeline of opportunities that we are unearthing, accelerated by our recent acquisitions of Whittington House and 19/23 Wells Street.”
