JD.Com Buys £147M London HQ: The London Deal Sheet

The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com. 

BlueFive Private Wealth and General Projects have sold the £147M Hammersmith office scheme 43 Brook Green, being redeveloped by General Projects, to Chinese retail giant JD.com.

The building, now known as Systems, comprises 127K SF of office space and has an estimated gross development value of £147M. It will become the European headquarters of JD.com. 

Originally constructed in the 1930s, Systems was the headquarters of EMI during the 1990s, and following a refurbishment, the building’s net internal area has been increased by close to 50%.

General Projects led the redevelopment of the building on behalf of BlueFive Private Wealth, the United Arab Emirates-based global wealth platform of BlueFive Capital, and CBRE advised on the transaction.

DEALS

TPG Angelo Gordon and Beltane Asset Management have acquired an office building at the junction of Chester Street and Grosvenor Place in Belgravia, supported by £53.5M of financing from Grosvenor’s UK lending business.

The circa 50K SF headquarters property comprises six floors plus lower ground and has dual frontage onto both Chester Street and Grosvenor Place. The building will undergo a refurbishment programme, with new portico entrances, private terraces and facilities including showers and bike storage. 

JLL and Savills have been jointly instructed as leasing agents, with Pilbrow & Partners appointed as the architect. 

"Alongside its exceptional positioning, 1 Chester Street will deliver the quality of specification, secure headquarters location and sustainability credentials that occupiers are actively seeking,” JLL Head of West End Office Alex Browning said in a statement.

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Barings has acquired Eastman Edge, a multi-let light industrial estate in Harrow, from Big Yellow Group for £38.5M on behalf of a European core real estate strategy.

The newly built estate offers modern space suited to a range of light industrial uses including last-mile distribution, services and local trade, the company said.

CORPORATE

Mahir Vachani, Rishi Khurana and Rohan Jhaveri have launched BPS Purestone, a real estate investment platform for value-add opportunities in central London’s commercial and residential sectors.

The launch follows the purchase of offices at 85 Tottenham Court Road in June  from Derwent London for £32.6M in a transaction supported by private equity joint venture partner Revcap and senior lending from Cynergy Bank.

The platform combines two existing firms: central London property firm BPS, which represents capital on behalf of several family offices, including its own, and pan-European office developer and investor Purestone Capital. The platform already has £160M gross development value developed or in the pipeline and is aiming at £500M GDV within three years.

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KR8 Advisory has acquired the Allsop recoveries and receivership team, including both the team and its active case portfolio.

This move reflects KR8’s continued strategy to build a fully integrated advisory business combining restructuring expertise with real estate experience, the company said.

FUNDING

Henry Boot’s property investment and development arm, HBD, has secured forward funding for the first phase of Golden Valley, Cheltenham. The £1B mixed-use development is central to the UK’s national cyber strategy and will create around 1M SF of commercial space alongside 443 homes.

Phase 1, with a gross development value of £95M, comprises Idea, a 160K SF innovation centre, together with Router, a transport hub, and supporting infrastructure. This phase has been fully funded by private sector investment and Cheltenham Borough Council.

Idea is now 68% pre-let or under offer, and work is underway, with completion anticipated in early 2028.

Henry Boot said it hopes progress on Phase 1 will support occupier interest in pre-letting space for Phase 2 ahead of development. This comprises two additional buildings, Input and Output, which will provide 188K SF of commercial space for occupiers within national security.

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Long Harbour has agreed to forward-fund the delivery of 175 single-family rental homes in Derby and Desborough. They are the first investments in the region on behalf of the Long Harbour Single Family Housing Fund.

Long Harbour is partnering with Bellway to deliver 175 SFR homes, 94 at Snelsmoor Village, Derby, and 81 at Weavers Fields, Desborough, for the fund.

To date, the fund has committed to circa £200M of acquisitions to deliver almost 500 homes, with a further £500M of identified opportunities. The fund is targeting a total investment amount of £1.2B including debt, having recently secured £100M from the National Housing Bank. 

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Aldermore has provided an £85M facility to support Brydell Partners in the acquisition of a portfolio of 325 residential rental units across London.

The five-year interest-only facility has enabled Brydell to acquire five residential schemes located in Waltham Forest, Ealing and Wandsworth. Aldermore has committed the full loan amount upfront, and the portfolio comprises a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Two of the schemes are newly built and currently in the lease-up phase, while the remaining three assets are stabilised.

LEASING

Helical has exchanged an agreement for lease for the 12th floor of The Tower, The Bower, EC1, comprising 9,600 SF, to Audio Network, a global music company.

Audio Network will relocate to The Bower in November following the completion of minor alterations by the landlord to the fitted space. The lease has been agreed on an 11-year term, with a tenant-break option at Year 6. Following this transaction, occupancy at The Bower will be 96.6%.

PEOPLE

Leaf Living, founded by Blackstone Real Estate and Regis Group, has appointed David Mullin as chief financial officer. Mullin brings more than 20 years’ experience in residential and corporate finance and joins from Sage, where he was most recently managing director of commercial operations and previously led finance as financial director and interim CFO.

Prior to this, he spent eight years in senior financial roles at Berkeley Homes, having begun his career with healthcare company GSK. Leaf Living has expanded its single-family housing platforms to more than 2,500 homes.