Li Ka-Shing’s Propco Buys UBS Broadgate HQ For £1B

The property company one-third owned by Hong Kong’s richest family has bought 5 Broadgate from British Land and GIC for £1B in the largest London investment deal so far this year.

CK Asset Holdings, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange but 31% owned by the family trust of property titan Li Ka-Shing, has completed the purchase of the 700K SF building, which was completed in 2015 and is leased to UBS until 2035. The price represents a yield of 3.9%.

It is the first investment any of Li’s companies have made in London for a decade. In 2008 one of his companies bought the Convoy’s Wharf site in Deptford, where 3,500 homes with a potential end value of more than £1B are being built. In 1999 the company that became CK Asset Holdings bought the Lots Road power station in Chelsea, where 706 flats with a similar end value are being built.

Li’s companies also bid on Battersea Power Station and the residential assets in the former Olympic Village. Forbes estimates the family’s net worth at $37.7B. Li stepped down from leading CK Assets and his other businesses in May, and the company is now run by his son Victor.

UBS vacated around 1M SF of offices at the Broadgate scheme and moved into the new building, which was developed by BL and Blackstone, with the latter subsequently selling its stake in Broadgate to GIC. British Land is undertaking a major redevelopment of the vacant space and other buildings at Broadgate.

British Land said it had made an average annual return of 18% on the building, and that the price was in line with its valuation at 31 March.

“5 Broadgate is a great quality asset with a high-quality tenant, and we are delighted with this investment,” CK Executive Gerald Ma said. “We are also very pleased to become a partner of British Land and GIC and share their long term vision for the entire Broadgate campus.”