Hong Kong giant Lee Kum Kee has confirmed the purchase of London’s Walkie Talkie building for £1.28 billion.
The Hong Kong group, who specializes in Chinese herbal health products and property investment have bought 20 Fenchurch Street for the highest price of any single office building in the UK.
The Walkie Talkie building includes the Sky Garden as well as 700,000 square feet of office space and 17,000 feet of retail space.
“Our decision to sell 20 Fenchurch Street at an exceptional price and return cash to shareholders reflects our disciplined approach to the use of capital,” said Rob Noel, Land Securities’ chief executive.
“The building has been an immensely successful project for Landsec and our partners… This sale crystallises the significant value we have created at 20 Fenchurch Street.”
“We started a big push into London development in 2010, and to check out of that now is a real vindication of our strategy,”
“It cost us £473m to build and we’ve sold it for £1.28bn – that’s virtually unprecedented,” he added.
Head of London capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, James Beckham, said: “This record-breaking deal demonstrates the enormous investor appetite in London, and in the City’s reputation as the global place to do business,”
“Since the vote to leave the EU, capital targeting London from the Asia-Pacific region has increased to record levels. This is partly due to currency fluctuations but is more indicative of longer-term confidence in London and investment strategies, which are not derailed by short-term political uncertainty.”
The Walkie Talkie building has had its fair share of controversies, winning award for London’s biggest architectural eyesore in 2015.
In 2013 the building was also blamed for melting vehicles parked below from the glare of the skyscraper.
Before this deal, the most money spent on a UK skyscraper was the HSBC (LON:HSBA) tower in Canary Wharf which was bought by the Qatar Investment Authority in 2014 for £1.2 billion.