Two London office requirements seeking a total of up to 330,000 square feet have gone live.
Market sources said Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group or MUFG, the Tokyo-headquartered financial services giant, has appointed JLL to seek up to 250,000 square foot of offices in central London.
The group is based in around 150,000 square foot in London at Ropemaker Place on a lease that expires in 2030.
The 602,000-square-foot building is also owned by Singaporean landlord Ho Bee Land and home to tenants including Macquarie and Charles Stanley.
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management also occupies around 66,000 square foot in 24 Lombard Street, a building it owns in the City.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings.
Separately, law firm Osborne Clarke has launched an up to 80,000-square-foot London office search.
CBRE has been appointed to look at options for the move. The law firm is based at One London Wall in Barbican where it occupies around 50,000 square feet on a lease expiring in 2030.
German fund Hansa Investment Management bought the long leasehold interest in the 199,134-square-foot office, retail and restaurant space from Hammerson and Kajima Construction Europe (UK) for £136 in 2008, reflecting a net initial yield of 6%.
Osborne Clarke employs 1,600 plus lawyers working in 26 locations across the US, Europe and Asia according to its website.
Law firms have been a particularly significant driver of take-up of prime office space in London over the last few years. They leased 828,450 square feet of London offices in 2025, according to Knight Frank, an increase of 13.3% on 2024.
KF says recently the deals have often been expansions, particularly from American firms looking to gain market share.
The City Core submarket remains the most popular destination for lawyers signing new deals but American firms have increasingly considered the West End. A bellwether transaction was the-then McDermott, Will & Emery's decision to take all 115,000 square feet of offices at The Lazari Building, 7 Brook Street, the former Fenwick department store in Mayfair, last year. The firm is now McDermott, Will & Schulte. It signed to relocate from its home in around 20,000 square feet at 22 Bishopsgate.
Other prominent American law firm moves recently have involved Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis. The companies see highly competitive salaries and brand new headquarters as key to recruiting top talent in the UK, and they have been behind some of the highest rents paid in London.
Occupier activity strengthened across central London during the second quarter of 2026, reports BNP Paribas Real Estate with take-up reaching 3 million square foot, representing a 26% increase on the previous quarter. The improved quarterly performance lifted total first half 2026 take-up to 5.5 million square foot reflecting a 9.6% decrease compared with the same period in 2025, BNP PRE says but comfortably above both the five-year H1 average of 4.8 million square foot. The strength of activity during the first half of the year has been driven by renewed confidence amongst larger corporate occupiers, particularly those seeking high-quality office accommodation in core central London, BNP PRE reports.