Bidders line up for JP Morgan’s City offices

Trio of investors shortlisted to acquire Alban Gate for £300m

Article posted: 20 May 2011

A shortlist of three investors has been drawn up for the purchase of 410,000 sq ft of office space in the City of London which is home to JP Morgan.

The Brunei Investment Authority, a joint venture between Hines and Samsung Life, plus Tishman Speyer are all in line to acquire the £300m landmark property from The Carlyle Group.

Carlyle acquired the asset last summer as part of the White Tower portfolio for which it paid £671m. The portfolio comprises a number of offices in London which were previously owned by bankrupt tycoon Simon Halabi.

Alban Gate appears to be two separate towers but is in fact a single building which was designed to bridge the ancient road that ran along the outskirts of the old Roman city of Londonium. It was named after the tower of the Church of St Alban built by Sir Christopher Wren on nearby Wood Street.

JP Morgan’s lease expires in 2025 but the firm is expected to relocate way before then when it consolidates staff from various offices in London to new offices in Canary Wharf at 20 Bank Street. In addition, JP Morgan purchased offices in Blackfriars from Carlyle earlier in the year.

Carlyle is likely to use the capital from the sale to invest in other White Tower offices which are deemed to have substantial development opportunities.

GM Real Estate advises The Carlyle Group.

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Posted by Julie