CANADA LIFE Ireland has taken advantage of the credit crunch and the slowdown in the British commercial property market to buy an office block in London for £45 million sterling (€57 million), £8.5 million below the initial sale price.
Santander House was put on the market last July for £53.5 million by Legal General and was bought by Canada Life, whose Irish division has taken over the property and is seeking investors for the transaction.
The property covers 66,000sq ft and is located beside St Paul's Cathedral. Half the building is occupied by Spanish bank Santander.
Law firm Maxwell Winward and restaurant chain Leon are also tenants in the property.
Kevin Pettit, a director of Independent Broker Mortgage Company, which sourced the property for Canada Life, said the recent turmoil had created a number of investment opportunities in the "distressed" British commercial property market.
Mr Pettit said other buyers were willing to pay over £2 million more for Santander House but were unable to close the deal by the required deadline. He said Canada Life did not require debt to finance the transaction initially so it was able to complete the deal quickly.
