BNP Paribas Real Estate has announced that it has successfully advised on Singaporean investment manager HE Capital’s London market debut with its acquisition of Soho’s 147-155 Wardour Street (W1F) from Hong Kong investor Lai Wing-To for circa £35m, which would reflect a net initial yield close to 6%.
In what marks the first acquisition for HE Capital’s circa £200m new London-focused fund, it has acquired the 27,123 sq ft, six-storey mixed-use asset. The building forms part of three West End assets offered for sale at the start of the year by “king of retail” Lai Wing-To – collectively referred to as the Trinity portfolio.
HE Capital’s topco fund has been set up as a variable capital company (VCC), with the Singaporean structure facilitating the set-up of asset-level sub-funds for each asset, giving fund investors discretion on which deals they want to participate in. London forms part of stage one of its global asset acquisition ambitions, with gateway cities such as Tokyo, Melbourne and Paris to form stage two.
Imran Ellahi, chief investment officer, HE Capital commented: “This purchase affirms our intention to actively invest into the London market where we feel there are significant opportunities.
“HEC was set up to provide a trusted avenue for Asian capital to access real estate opportunities in global gateways. Our investment strategy is targeting London, where pricing has rebased quickly, eventually expanding to other cities gateway cities that are slightly lagging behind the London market.
“The skills within HEC’s leadership team give us a 360 degree understanding of property, a situation that allows us to locate and extract value for our institutional and family office investors.”
Aman Panesar, central London investment at BNP Paribas Real Estate commented: “The appetite for well-located West End investment opportunities rolls on and this deal is another marker that the sentiment towards London offices has improved as buyer and seller expectations are matching up more frequently.
“The recent decision by the Bank of England to cut interest rates for the first time since March 2020 should hopefully provide more certainty to the market and we’ll see continued deal flow across the London office market as a result.
“It has been great to support HE Capital on its London debut, which follows the team’s recent transactions of London’s 24 Savile Row and 22 Soho Square. We are fielding a number of enquiries from other clients looking to explore opportunities across the West End and City and we expect increased activity levels towards the end of the year.”
BNP Paribas Real Estate advised HE Capital. JLL acted for Lai Wing-To.
DLA Piper acted as legal advisor for HE Capital.