A bid to buy a London skyscraper nicknamed the “Can of Ham” for £300m has failed after the buyer and seller could not agree on a price.
The failure of private equity giant Blackstone to purchase 70 St Mary Axe for around £300m is seen as a blow for the City as the sale of the office block at that price would have been the biggest London office deal in two years.
Blackstone had been in talks with current owner Nuveen, the asset management arm of US pension company TIAA, about a deal.
However, Nuveen was not willing to go below its £322m price tag.
The failed sale, first reported by Green Street News, reflects the woes of London’s office property market since the pandemic.
Property values dropped sharply in the wake of the pandemic and the market has struggled to recover.
The shift towards working from home has hit demand for offices in the capital, while surging interest rates have made the cost of financing property deals prohibitively expensive.
While interest rates have begun to ease this year and workers have begun returning to the office more frequently, transactions have remained subdued.
The “Can of Ham”, so nicknamed for its curved shape reminiscent of a tin of meat, was developed by Nuveen and completed on the eve of the pandemic in 2019.
The building’s owner previously tried to sell the tower in 2022 for £400m, but cancelled the sale after failing to drum up enough interest from prospective buyers.
The “Can of Ham” was put back on the market in September and its fate was viewed as a test of investor appetite for big office buildings after the prolonged slump in market interest.
The 516,000 sq ft tower’s tenants include law firm Sidley Austin, the National Bank of Canada and Allied Irish Bank.
The “Can of Ham” was also used as a location for filming two series of the BBC’s The Apprentice.
It is among a clutch of London skyscrapers that were touted for sale at around the same time.
Others included the Citypoint tower, which Canadian investor Brookfield is looking to sell for £500m, and Shell’s headquarters at One Southbank Place, which London-based owner Almacantar is hoping to sell for £400m.
It is understood that Nuveen will continue to seek a buyer for the 21-storey skyscraper following the collapse of talks with Blackstone. Agents Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark BH2 are acting on the sale.
Nuveen and Blackstone declined to comment.
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