Swiss banking and real estate investment group UBS, on behalf of clients, has completed the acquisition of 12-14 New Fetter Lane in London's Farringdon from the Cityhold Office Partnership for around £135 million.
The sale, first tipped by CoStar News in September, means UBS has bought two central London offices for close to £400 million in the last two months.
Savills has been handling the sale of the asset on behalf of Nuveen which manages the building for the owner. Law firm Bird & Bird prelet 142,000 square feet at the building in 2013.
CBRE Global Investment Partners bought a 25% stake in the Cityhold Office Partnership, the €2.1 billion pan-European office owned by US financial group TIAA and Swedish pension funds AP1 and AP 2, in 2020 in a transaction revealed by CoStar News and sister title Thomas Daily. It bought half of the 50% owned by TIAA and Nuveen. The latter, which is wholly owned by TIAA, remained as asset manager.
Cityhold was formed in 2012 as a real estate investment vehicle by the Swedish pension funds AP 1 and AP 2. Three years later, TIAA entered the joint venture.
GPE sold the 142,500-square-foot office development to the then-TIAA Henderson when under construction in 2014 for £165.8 million, reflecting a yield of 4.5%.
UBS recently bought Snapchat's London headquarters from HB Reavis for around £240 million.
The 142,000-square-foot Bloom development on Cowcross Street in Farringdon in Midtown includes ground-floor shops with the majority of the offices leased to Snapchat.