Hines has sold a mixed retail and office asset on Bond Street to the Czech company that runs the National Lottery for £195M.

Allwyn completed the purchase of the 41K SF 80 New Bond Street at a price that represents a net initial yield of 3.7%, CoStar News reported.

Allwyn is run by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek and in 2024 took over the license to run the UK’s National Lottery. Komárek made his money in industrial valves before diversifying into technology for the mining industry and later Central European real estate.

Hines’ second European Value Fund bought the building from Aviva Investors for £130M in February 2020 and refurbished it.

The building, on the corner of New Bond Street and Oxford Street, was previously a flagship store of retailer Next, but Hines re-leased the 10K SF space to Abercrombie & Fitch in 2024, CoStar said.

The 31K SF of office space is leased to Allwyn itself, UPL and REIT fund manager Cohen & Steers.

The price paid for the building shows investors are still willing to pay keen yields for properties in the West End in particular.

Investors are betting that leases on offices will rise in the next few years, with deals in top-tier West End properties regularly seeing rents of £150 to £200 per SF.