The agents appointed to oversee the sale of the Gherkin are to embark on a global tour to meet the leading bidders for the City of London landmark, which entered administration in April.
It is reported that over 200 potential bidders have emerged for the property which is on the market for the second occasion in its ten year history, with an asking price of between £640 -£650 million.
Among the interested parties is one of the Gherkin’s current owners, Evans Randall. The London based investment and private equity group hopes to assume sole control of the building following the financial difficulties faced by co-owners IVG, which prompted the sale.
Evans Randall could acquire sole ownership by buying out IVG and paying off the debts owed to a consortium of international lenders. These include German asset manager DekaBank and Dutch-based banking and investment group ING.
This is the preferred option of IVG fundholders, who recently voted in favour of selling their stake to Evans Randall.
However, interest in acquiring the trophy asset is so strong that agent Savills has said the asking price for the building is now “at the lower end of the range” of the bids expected, which could derail Evans Randall’s ambitions.
The sale of the Gherkin has generated interest from investors across the globe. Unsurprisingly, around 40% of the registered bidders are from Asia. The next largest groups are from North America and the Middle East, at 20% and 15% respectively.
Julain Stocks, of administrators Deloitte Real Estate, says that they will now be undertaking inspections before bids are due in mid-September. This will involve whittling down the list to around 100 institutions and high net worth investors.
This process will involve the agents embarking on a 10-day world tour to meet interested parties early next month, before naming a preferred bidder.
Stephen Down, a partner at Savills, told the FT: “We are talking to people who have pure equity to buy this. The price has to be the best and the equity behind it has to be impeachable.
“I can’t think of any other London building that has this sort of profile. We’re reaching investors who are specifically interested in the Gherkin because of its iconic nature. It’s as if the Empire State Building was on sale.”
