Hong Kong developer SEA Holdings has hired advisers to offer for sale an office building in the City of London that’s leased to the Bank of England.
Broker CBRE has been brought in to market 20 Moorgate, which the UK central bank is due to vacate when its lease expires in 2028, people with knowledge of the process said.
SEA was in talks to sell the building in an off-market transaction for about GBP115 million ($198.5 million) to US investor Lincoln Property earlier this year but talks collapsed and it is now pushing ahead with a formal marketing exercise, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is not public.
The building is being marketed as an opportunity for a developer to pursue a comprehensive overhaul.
A representative for CBRE declined to comment. A spokesperson for SEA Holdings did not immediately respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
London’s office market continues to be buffeted by geopolitical uncertainty, with fears that the energy shock unleashed by the Iran war would usher in higher rates snuffing out a nascent recovery. Still, worries about rate hikes have receded in recent weeks, raising optimism that deal-making could pick up later this year.
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The Moorgate office has been home to the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority since 2013, after it signed a deal to sublet the premises from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The BOE has since decided to relocate its Moorgate staffers, with some set to be moved to its historic home on nearby Threadneedle Street. It is also planning to expand its headcount in Leeds, Bloomberg News has previously reported.
SEA Holdings’ Asian Growth Properties unit bought the building for GBP154 million in November 2016.
