Overseas Investments: An Irish syndicate represented by Dublin estate agent Finnegan Menton has sold on an office investment in London's West End at a handsome profit.
The syndicate run by Liberty Asset Management, which bought 21 Soho Square four years ago for £13.7 million, has sold it on for £20.2 million (€29.932 million). The purchaser was an Irish investor who narrowly outbid a number of UK institutions. The investment will show a net initial yield of 4 per cent.
The building is the headquarters of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group and has 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) overlooking Soho Square.
The lease has another 10 years to run.
Andrew Watt of Finnegan Menton, who advised the syndicate on both the purchase and sale, said it had benefited from substantial capital appreciation and, by introducing a significant level of debt into the acquisition, the returns on equity had been exceptional and far greater than would have been achieved by a debt-free purchase.
The office letting market in London, he said, had improved considerably over he past 12 months and the market was now factoring in rental growth which was encouraging buyers.
