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Property company Landsec has agreed to sell its Queen Anne’s Mansions office block in central London to Arora Group for £245m.
The unconditional deal, expected to complete in December, marks early progress towards Landsec’s target of releasing £2bn from its office portfolio by 2030. The strategy aims to refocus investment on assets delivering long-term income and earnings growth.
Queen Anne’s Mansions, developed by Landsec in the 1970s, is fully let on a lease that runs until December 2028. Most of the asset’s value is linked to its redevelopment potential, with rental income set to decline as the lease nears expiry.
Landsec said the disposal is immediately accretive to its return on equity. The proceeds will be received as a lump sum in 2025, bringing forward cash that would otherwise have been spread across 2025 and 2026. This change is expected to reduce EPRA earnings by £7m in the 2026 financial year and £15m in 2027.
The sale price compares to a projected book value of £256m at completion, reflecting income received and a corresponding reduction in valuation since the last appraisal. The transaction is expected to reduce Landsec’s pro-forma loan-to-value ratio by 1.3% to 37.1%.
Mark Allan, chief executive of Landsec, said: “This sale provides strong evidence of the continuing recovery in the central London investment market and allows us to crystallise a full value for this off-strategy asset much sooner than we had envisaged.
“Including QAM, overall disposals since 31 March now total around £500m, which is ahead of our initial expectations and, combined with continued robust operational performance across the business, means we are making encouraging early progress in delivering against our strategy.”
