The Church of England has sold a majority stake in its 400-year-old Pollen Estate in the heart of London’s Mayfair to a partnership led by the Crown Estate.
Financed by Norway’s state wealth fund, the Crown Estate’s £381m offer was enough to see off a range of “impressive” international buyers including banks, pension funds and charitable organisations. After an initial posting of nearly 1,000 brochures, over 100 presentations were given to potential bidders, with 86 requesting tours of the central London asset.
Described by the Church of England as the largest single property sale it has ever undertaken, the Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) now owns 57.8 per cent of the 35-acre site. The Crown Estate has taken 6.4 per cent, with the Greenwich Hospital holding unchanged at 10 per cent. Nearly a quarter share remains in the hands of the Pollen family itself.
With more than half-a-million sq ft of office space — spanning suites in traditional Georgian townhouses to floor plates in modern buildings — the Pollen Estate is made up of 43 individual properties occupied by world famous brands such as Ralph Lauren and Swiss luxury jeweller Chopard.
As head of the Crown Estate’s Regent Street Portfolio, David Shaw, said: “With the benefit of our partnership holdings in Regent Street, we recognised the long term investment opportunity of the Pollen Estate holdings and we look forward to working with the Pollen Estate board and other Pollen beneficiaries to build on the success to date.
“Savile Row and Cork Street have international reputations for their focus on tailoring and art galleries respectively and the success of these two streets is crucial to the ongoing success of London’s West End as an international destination,” he added.
The Royal property company’s partnership with the oil-rich NBIM is seen as the latest move in a joint strategy to purchase the entire length of Regent Street, which shares a boundary with the Pollen Estate site. Previous collaborations have netted The Crown Estate a 25 per cent stake in one of the capital prestige shopping streets, with NBIM in possession of the remaining 75 per cent of Regent Street.
“This latest purchase is in accordance with the fund’s strategy to build a global, but concentrated, real estate portfolio,” explained Thomas Sevanga, spokesman for NBIM. “Our strategy is to focus our investments on a limited number of large global cities, where we can invest in core retail and office properties.”
Last month Norway’s £530bn wealth fund created a dedicated real estate division to speed up its property investments and plans on investing almost £6bn during each of the next three years. The fund already owns high-grade properties on Times Square in New York and Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, as well as in Boston, San Francisco and Zurich.
Dating back to 1622, when William Maddox paid £1,450 for a plot of rough ground, that original land is now included in the Pollen Estate as Great Marlborough Street, Hanover Street, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, Princes Street, Maddox Street, Pollen Street, St George Street and Dering Street. Other additions during its four century history consist of offices, residential units and retail outlets, most of which are situated on Savile Row.
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