Overseas investors in the news
The Financial Times reports today that the developers of One Hyde Park have sold the Rolex flagship retail unit sited beneath the luxury apartments there, to Grigory Guselnikov, a Russian investor, on behalf of the newly formed Williston Properties fund, for more than £12.5m. The price equates to an initial yield of less than 3%, the paper says.
This new record for the area demonstrates the appetite for such prime property by overseas investors, the paper points out. It says there is a prospect of a higher return once the rent is renewed on the property after five years, noting that the 100 Knightsbridge property is leased for a further 15 years at £400,000 per year, reflecting about £300 per sq ft.
Meanwhile, in another sign of the keen overseas investment interest in UK property, The Times is reporting today that Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund – which invests the savings of 12.3m workers – is about to make its first major purchase outside London. The paper says the fund is close to acquiring the 670,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s distribution warehouse in Dartford in Kent for £80m from a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners and AEW Europe. Until now, the Malaysian fund has focused on prime office space in London.
