TAIWAN’S biggest insurance company is close to buying a trophy City office block for £580m.
Cathay Life is understood to have seen off competition from more than 30 bidders for the Walbrook Building. The high price — £20m more than its owners had sought — underlines the frothy state of the capital’s property market. Foreign bidders spent almost £20bn in London last year, according to the agency Colliers, which said that buyers from Asia alone would try to invest £65bn this year.
The deal is a coup for the Walbrook’s owners. Ares Private Equity and Delancey, chaired by the former British Land boss Sir John Ritblat and run by his son Jamie, acquired it four years ago as part of their takeover of Minerva. Their profit from the Walbrook will eclipse the entire price they paid for the listed property company, which was struggling under a heavy debt burden.
Delancey and Ares have already sold other Minerva assets, such as the nearby St Botolph office block. They engaged the property agents Knight Frank and CBRE to field offers for the Walbrook in January after receiving approaches from Asian and Middle Eastern suitors.
Cathay Life made its first purchase in Britain last year, buying the Woolgate Exchange in the City for £320m. Taiwanese insurers are expected to target London following a decision by the country’s financial regulator to relax rules forbidding them from investing in foreign property.