Union Investment acquires The Copyright Building in London’s West End

Union Investment has signed a contract to purchase The Copyright Building office complex located at 30 Berners St. in London for €186 million ($211 million). The seller was Derwent London.

“As a global real estate investment manager, we continue to regard London as one of our key target markets within Europe. As in other markets, against the backdrop of the ongoing Brexit negotiations we are currently required to perform a particularly thorough risk analysis and consider a range of factors in the United Kingdom,” said Martin Brühl, CIO and member of the Management Board of Union Investment Real Estate GmbH. “But the acquisition of The Copyright Building is a prime example of how we are continuing to systematically harness our scope for investment.”

The seven-story property comprises around 108,000 square feet of rental space. It is located in the district of Fitzrovia. The office space is let in full for a fixed term of 20 years to Capita Business Services, an IT service provider in the field of process management. It is planned to let the ground floor and lower ground floor areas to three retailers in order to strengthen the urban character of the surrounding area.

“Fitzrovia is currently one of the most dynamic areas of London’s West End. Once completed, The Copyright Building will be one of the district’s highest-value office complexes and is let on a long-term basis to an office tenant with an excellent credit rating,” said Martin Schellein, head of investment management Europe at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH. “As a result, this core investment is in line with the defensive strategy for expanding our portfolio in the United Kingdom and demonstrates that we are still pursuing attractive investment opportunities in the current market cycle.”

The property is being acquired for the portfolio of the UniImmo: Europa open-ended property fund.

Union Investment currently manages eight commercial properties in the United Kingdom, including three class A properties in London. The management company acquired an interest in the Watermark Place office complex  and the XYZ Building in Manchester.