London-based private investment banking firm Evans Randall has purchased the landmark office building “the Gherkin” - 30 St Mary Axe - in t...

London-based private investment banking firm Evans Randall has purchased the landmark office building “the Gherkin” - 30 St Mary Axe - in the City of London in a 50:50 joint venture with IVG Immobilien.

The building was acquired from Swiss reinsurance company Swiss Re for £630 million (€950 million) reflecting a yield of around 4.5 per cent.

Evans Randall sources, arranges, underwrites and manages large-scale commercial property investments on behalf of itself and its investor clients. It will offer approximately 50 per cent of the asset to private and institutional investors via a special purpose vehicle.

IVG also intends to place approximately 50 per cent with private investors via a closed real estate fund in the IVG EuroSelect series. IVG and Evans Randall will act as co-investors placing part of their respective shareholdings with investor clients.

The 500,000 sq ft office tower was designed by architects Foster and Partners and completed in 2004. It is let to high quality tenants on long-term leases, with Swiss Re continuing occupying 50 per cent of the lettable space until at least 2031.

Michael Evans, Chairman and Chief Executive of Evans Randall, said: “This acquisition fits perfectly with Evans Randall’s strategy to acquire trophy buildings let to strong tenants in Europe’s main financial centres. It complements our £2 billion portfolio which also includes the Financial Services Authority’s headquarters at Canary Wharf, ABN Amro’s UK headquarters at 250 Bishopsgate, the HBOS offices at 33 Old Broad Street, London EC2 and ING’s Headquarters in the Hague, Holland.”

“This is exactly the type of high quality real estate asset that we and our clients look to invest in and we expect to announce further acquisitions of a similar calibre across Europe in the coming weeks.”