(Bloomberg) -- Deka Immobilien GmbH, Germany’s biggest manager of property mutual funds, bought an office building in the City of London for about 500 million euros ($680 million) to benefit from rising rents in the U.K.’s biggest financial district.
The St. Botolph Building was purchased on behalf of Deka- ImmobilienEuropa, Deka’s open-ended real estate fund, the company said today in a statement. Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc, an insurance company, occupies more than half of the space in the 13-story building located in an area that’s become popular with insurers because of its close proximity to the Lloyds of London market.
An increase in leasing will probably cause rents for the City of London’s best buildings to reach 60 pounds per square foot by the end of the year, Ben Burston, head of U.K. office research at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said by phone. That’s up from an average of 58.50 pounds at the end of September.
Demand for offices in central London is growing as the U.K. economy improves. Commercial real estate values across the country rose for the sixth straight month in October, led by offices, Investment Property Databank Ltd. said on Nov. 14.
The St. Botolph Building was completed in 2010 and has 558,000 square feet (51,800 square meters) of office space, according to the statement. Law firm Clyde & Co LLP is also a tenant.
