Gaw Capital acquires London property for Korean investors
Gaw Capital Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity real estate firm, has acquired Waterside House - an office building in London - on behalf of a pool of South Korean institutional investors.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed by the firm, though Reuters reports that $321 million was paid for the asset, with the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, Suhyup Bank and Hyundai Securities taking part in the transaction. The seller is said to be D2 Private, an Irish property investment company.
Designed by architect Richard Rogers, Waterside House is currently being used by retailer Marks & Spencer for it global headquarters. Gaw Capital, which acted as is the advisor and co-investor in the deal, will become the asset manager.
According to a release, this is the fourth London acquisition led by Gaw Capital on behalf of Asian investors, including the purchase of the Lloyd's of London Building by Ping An Insurance in July.
"There is definitely a growing demand from Asian institutional investors in safe commercial and residential real estate purchases abroad," said Christina Gaw, Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets.
Last month Gaw Capital reached a final close on its fourth China real estate fund at the hard cap of $1.025 billion. It is the largest vehicle the firm has raised. Asian investors accounted for 40% of the LP base for Gateway Real Estate Fund IV which will employ an opportunistic investment strategy, targeting real estate assets with favorable risk-return profiles in the Greater China and Asia Pacific region.
The firm has raised more than $3.4 billion since 2005. It currently manages $7.1 billion over four real estate funds with investments in residential developments, retails centers, hotels and commercial properties.
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