CORFAC News

Farebrother/Corfac International, the London-based international affiliate of CORFAC International, announced today that the firm has been appointed to sell over $200 million of property assets in the capital.

Telereal Trillium has appointed Farebrother to market the freehold of The High Holborn Telephone Exchange which sits on just under half an acre of prime land on High Holborn close to Covent Garden. The building has 4 meter floor to ceiling heights, totals 76,000 sq. ft. over 8 floors and is let to BT plc until 2031. It still operates today as a BT telephone exchange archive centre with admin offices. Offers in excess of £45 million (approximately $70m) for the freehold investment are being sought.

Closer to St Paul's Cathedral, the Firm has appointed by fund managers TH Real Estate, to sell the long leasehold interest of Barnard's Inn, 86 Fetter Lane, London, EC4, which totals just over 100,000 sq ft. The lease has 124 years remaining at a peppercorn rent and the building is let to a variety of tenants including the London HQ of Marriott Hotels. This is an interesting asset management opportunity as full vacant possession can be obtained in 2018 when the new London £17 billion Crossrail train line services open at nearby Farringdon station.

Farebrother is quoting offers in excess of £68million (approximately $105 million), which equates to an initial yield of approximately 5 percent.

Finally, over in the West End, private investors have put 11 Connaught Place, London, W2, on the market through Farebrother. The building is close to the famous Hyde Park, and was formerly the London HQ of The English Football Association before they relocated to the new national stadium at Wembley. It is currently vacant and totals 13,300 sq ft. The quoting price is in excess of £20 million (approximately $31 million).

Vacant possession values in London have soared over the last 18 months given the significant rental growth over the same period, low current vacancy levels of grade A stock and limited future pipeline. Numerous buildings have also been pre-let during construction putting further pressure on the limited supply. On the Investment side over £70 billion (approximately $108 billion) of capital market transaction have taken place over the last 12 months in the UK of which a substantial amount have been overseas investors.

Senior Partner Alistair Subba Row comments: "The UK tier one cities, especially London, have been seen by many global investors as a safe place to buy given our political stability, financial and legal platforms. London also benefited hugely from staging the 2012 Olympics. Whilst we only played centre stage broadcasting to the world for a month, the capital saw the largest clean up and public realm improvements since the end of the Second World War. The Olympic legacy has continued allowing us to really enjoy a clean and safe environment across London."

For more information about these properties or any other UK enquiries please contact either Alistair Subba Row or Alistair Hilton at FarebrotherCORFAC International.