April 20, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s National Pension Service has recently been named a preferred bidder to acquire Goldman Sachs’ new headquarters building in London for about 2 trillion won (US$1.70 billion), according to Korea Economic Daily on Aug. 3.

If the deal is signed as planned, it would be the largest-ever overseas property purchase by NPS, the nation’s largest institutional investor and the world’s third-largest pension fund. 

Goldman Sachs' new headquarters building

The report said Hong Kong’s CK Asset Holdings and Spain’s Pontedea, the private investment firm of tycoon Amancio Ortega, are said to have participated in the recent final bidding. The deal could be closed within the month as soon as the rental fees for Goldman are decided.

Since early this year, Goldman has been seeking a sale-and-leaseback of the building with a total floor space of 78,000 square meters that is located near its existing office on Fleet Street. The banking group plans to move into the new building early next year.

The latest purchase comes as big Korean investors are increasingly turning their eyes to London’s financial district where the building prices are fast recovering after the June 2016 Brexit vote due to the city’s lack of new development projects and growing demand for co-working spaces like WeWork.

Mirae Asset Daewoo and NH Investment and Securities purchased Cannon Bridge House, a landmark building near London Bridge, for 370 billion won in March, while Mirae Asset Financial Group acquired 20 Old Bailey, an office building whose tenants include Blackstone, for 500 billion won in May.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)