U.S., European Players Line Up For £210M Unilever Office Sale
Big names from Europe and the U.S. are among the bidders vying to buy a mixed-use scheme that will include corporate giant Unilever’s new UK headquarters.
New York-headquartered sale-and-leaseback specialist LCN Capital Partners and French insurer AXA Investment Managers are the front-runners to buy the scheme in Kingston Upon Thames, West London, for £210M from Cube Real Estate and Hathway Opportunity Fund, CoStar reported.
The scheme will have two office buildings totaling 270K SF, which will be occupied by fast-moving consumer goods company Unilever from the end of 2023.
It will also have 156 apartments ranging from one to three beds, 35% of which will be affordable.
Unilever is set to consolidate 2,000 staff from five sites in London and Surrey into the buildings. Planning consent for the scheme was granted this week. The investment will be one of the largest in the west London office market in recent years.
While one company is moving into a new west London HQ, the former office building of another global corporate in the area is set to be transformed into homes. French investor Tikehau Capital and joint venture partner Areli Real Estate have bought the 104K SF former HQ of Sega in nearby Brentford as well as some adjoining buildings and land and will redevelop the site into at least 500 apartments.
