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The Hong Kong company owned by the family that invented Oyster Sauce has bought the Walkie Talkie office tower in the City of London for £1.3B, the largest-ever deal for a single office building in the U.K.
LKK Health Products Group has bought the 713K SF, 37-storey building that was designed by architect Raphael Vinoly.
The deal surpasses the £1.2B paid by the Qatar Investment Authority for HSBC’s office tower in Canary Wharf in 2014. The biggest-ever U.K. single-asset deal is the sale of the Trafford Centre in Manchester to Intu by Peel Holdings for £1.65B in 2011.
The Walkie Talkie was sold by a joint venture between Landsec, Canary Wharf Group, Morgan Stanley, China Investment Corp. and the Qatar Investment Authority.
Landsec will give £475M of the £634M it received for its 50% stake back to shareholders, continuing the trend of London REITs returning capital to investors when selling large buildings rather than reinvesting it in the uncertain market.
LKK is part of the Lee Kum Kee empire, which includes food ingredients, health food products and investment assets like property. The family made its fortune in the 19th century with the invention of Oyster Sauce.
CBRE and Eastdil Secured advised the sellers. Cushman & Wakefield advised the buyer.
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