China Overseas Holdings has paid £170m for the Centrium building in London’s midtown for £170m (€204m), reflecting a 5.2% yield.
A subsidiary of the company, itself owned by listed Hong Kong developer China Overseas Land and Investment, acquired the asset from Munich-based asset manager GLL Real Estate Partners.
It is the second significant London office purchase by COLI, which is advised by CBRE, in the past 12 months, after the company bought 1 Finsbury Circus, EC2, in December last year.
The Centrium building at 61 Aldwych/14 Kingsway, WC2, comprises 178,000 sq ft of grade-A office space arranged over basement, ground and nine upper floors.
The building is fully let to four retailers and seven office tenants including Tishman Speyer, which refurbished the building in 2007 before selling it to GLL.
It generates a rent roll in excess of £9m a year.
The long-expected wave of Chinese investment into UK property has gathered pace over the past 12 months.
In July, a Commerz Real managed fund, advised by CBRE and Savills, sold the Lloyd’s Building, EC3, to Ping An, the first Chinese insurer to invest in UK property.
This week Dalian Wanda, also advised by CBRE, completed its acquisition of One Nine Elms.
GM Real Estate advised GLL.
