Helical has exchanged on the sale of the long leasehold interest in 25 Charterhouse Square, London, EC1 to a real estate fund managed by global alternative investment manager Ares Management for £43.5 million.
The disposal price represents a 6.5% discount to the 30 September 2023 book value, Helical said in a statement.
Redeveloped by Helical in 2017, 25 Charterhouse Square is located a minute’s walk from the Farringdon east Elizabeth line entrance, with views overlooking Charterhouse Square. The six-storey building comprises 45,000 square feet of offices and is home to creative occupiers including: marketing agency Anomaly; the FTSE-listed betting and gaming company Entain; and the communications consultancy Hudson Sandler.
The building is accredited BREEAM Excellent, WiredScore Gold and has nine showers, 94 lockers, 90 secure bike racks, a cycle repair station and a drying room.
Gerald Kaye, chief executive of Helical, said in a statement: “We will look to recycle the proceeds from the sale into our development pipeline, which is focused on delivering ‘best-in-class’ Central London office schemes.”
Wilson Lamont, partner and co-head of Ares European Real Estate, said: “We are now seeing attractive value in Zone 1 locations where tenant demand remains robust, and supply of modern, sustainable space is limited.”
Ares is also in talks to buy a slice of Shaftesbury’s Charlotte Street portfolio for £65 million. The latter dropped plans to sell a larger £250 million tranche of its Fitzrovia portfolio last year. Ares Management would buy the majority of the REIT’s holdings in Fitzrovia. JLL is advising Ares while CBRE is advising Shaftesbury.
Helical was advised by Ingleby Trice and Clifford Chance and Ares by Appley, TT&G Partners, Squarebrook and DLA.