British Land and GIC have gone under offer to lease 80,000 square feet of offices to law firm Akin Gump at 155 Bishopsgate, continuing a strong run for the duo at their Broadgate Estate in London, CoStar News can reveal.
The law firm, which is based at Bishops Square, is in talks to move into the 9th, 10th and 11th floor which British Land and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC took back recently from investment manager Barings for a premium.
Barings paid British Land to surrender a lease which runs until 2025. The investment manager had subleased the space to renewable energy supplier Bulb in 2019 after Barings' asset management unit moved to 20 Old Bailey, EC4, the prior year.
But Bulb collapsed into administration in 2022, leading to a multi-billion-pound bailout from the UK government. The firm, which had about 1.4 million customers, was one of the most high-profile casualties in the UK energy gas sector from the rising cost of wholesale gas prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rental discussions are significantly higher than the circa £72 per square feet Bulb was understood to be paying.
British Land is no stranger to taking the commercial decision to agree lease surrenders in response for a payment. Famously, last year it secured an £149 million surrender premium from Facebook parent Meta - or the equivalent of seven years rent - for space it had leased but never moved into at 1 Triton Square.
On Monday, British Land said it will receive gross proceeds of £192.5 million from the sale of a 50% share in that building to Royal London Asset Management, with the duo repurposing it into a science and innovation building on its Regent’s Place campus in Euston in London.
BL and GIC are set for a strong period of leasing at the Broadgate Campus near Liverpool Street station. In addition to the Akin Gump letting, CoStar News revealed on Monday that US hedge fund Citadel is in talks to prelet in excess of 250,000 square feet of offices at the 2 Fenchurch Avenue development on the site.
News of progress on the letting will be another boost for the capital as leasing experts suggest around 2 million square feet of office moves are close to being signed up.
Major moves moving closer to decisions include US insurance broker Gallagher, global professional services firm Accenture, law firm Watson, Farley & Williams, accountant BDO, payment card services group Visa, Legal & General and law firm Mayer Brown.
JLL and CBRE advise British Land and GIC at 155 Broadgate.