German fund and asset management giant Union Investment has sold 1 Plough Place in the City of London and 33 Holborn.
German fund and asset management giant Union Investment has sold 1 Plough Place in the City of London and 33 Holborn.
Union bought 1 Plough Place in late 2008 for its DEFO-Immobilienfonds 1. The site at 33 Holborn is the HQ for UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.
No prices were disclosed, but it has already been reported that 33 Holborn Place was sold for £310 mln (€393 mln), reflecting a yield of 4.8%.
Union still holds three other office properties and a hotel in London. The sales are in line with recent comments by board member Reinhard Kutscher who said the German fund and asset management giant Union Investment Real Estate is poised to accelerate its disposals in the coming 18 to 24 months.
‘Over the next 1 ½ years, there will be more demand for real estate given the current economic environment and low interest rates,’ Kutscher told PropertyEU. ‘We’re seeing more and more demand from big institutions from the US and Asia. The increasing competition means it will become even more difficult to find assets at a reasonable price which is key to our strategy.’
Overall, however, the company will remain a net buyer, he added. ‘We will still be more active on the buyer than on the seller side.’
