The building's owner, CLI Group, a subsidiary of German bank Commerzbank, has agreed a sale price of circa £260m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.25%. Ping An will provide the equity for the deal, with Gaw set to take on an asset management role of the Richard Rogers-designed tower following completion of the transaction. A source said the deal is being financed by a new lender, thought to be a large Asian bank with a presence in London. The financing package is being arranged by Gaw. Ping An emerged in April as the buyer of the Lloyd’s Building in what is the first London investment by a Chinese life insurance group. CoStar News revealed in January that CBRE had been brought on alongside existing sales agent Savills to find a buyer for the 348,000 sq ft City landmark at 1 Lime Street, EC3. The remarketing of the building also saw a new asking price set, which was significantly lower than the £290m that was mooted when it first came to market in September 2011. At the end of last year, CoStar News revealed that the sale of the Lloyd’s Building to Matrix Property Fund Management had collapsed more than a month after the property was placed under offer. It was thought to be paying around £260m. Matrix Property Fund Management went under offer at the end of October to buy the building from closed-ended fund manager CLI Group. It was previously bought from German fund manager Deka for £231m in 2005. It is thought that Matrix, which often arranges deals on a syndicated basis, had been in discussions to buy the Lloyd’s Building in a tie-up with private overseas investors. Last June, CommerzReal refinanced the debt securing the Lloyd’s Insurance Building with a four-and-a-half-year £131m senior loan provided by DG Hyp and Deutsche Postbank. The refinancing of the interest-only securitised loan, in the eight-loan European Prime Real Estate No.1 CMBS which was issued by Morgan Stanley, replaced the £141m loan which matured on 20 April. This reduced the LTV from 61%, with an amortisation schedule to enable DG Hyp and Postbank to fund the £131m senior loan through their pfandbrief pools, providing CLI Group with slightly lower cost of debt than is typical for a City of London office. The famous “inside-out” building is entirely let to Lloyd’s of London, for which it was purpose built in 1986. The building produces a rent of £16.76m, or £48.18 overall. The Lloyd’s Building was given Grade I listing status in December 2011, which gives permanence to a building structure that was designed to be flexible and adaptable — which explains why the lift and stairways are visible on the exterior allowing an uncluttered interior space that could be easily reconfigured.
Co Star.