Hayfin and Capreon’s acquisition of the 'Can of Ham' at 70 St Mary Axe for circa £335 million is a worthy winner of the CoStar Sale of the Year for London, particularly given such big ticket transactions have been in short supply.
It represents a major moment for the City’s commercial real estate market, demonstrating renewed investor confidence as the largest single‑office building sale in London in the past three years.
The building, developed by Nuveen and completed in 2019, has become one of the City’s most recognisable architectural additions with an elliptical, “tinned‑ham” form, strong ESG credentials and 360‑degree natural light.
Hayfin and Capreon’s success followed a much-publicised faltering of a sale to US private equity group Blackstone. It underscores the duo's commitment to quality, sustainability and long‑term income stability.
About the project: Carlos Colomer, managing director at Hayfin, described the building on acquisition as having an iconic design and outstanding location.
Nuveen sold the 315,639-square-foot 21-storey tower, near Liverpool Street station.It had bought the site from Targetfollow in 2010 for the Cityhold Office Partnership, a €2.2 billion pan-European office joint venture vehicle between US pension giant TIAA and Sweden’s AP1 and AP2 pension plans. The partnership is managed by TIAA’s fund management arm Nuveen.
CoStar News revealed in January 2020 that Nuveen Real Estate had recapitalised the TIAA General Account’s interest in the Cityhold Office Partnership, with TIAA selling down half of its initial 50% interest in the venture to CBRE GIP, representing a value of €625 million (£529 million).
The building is fully let to 13 tenants, with a weighted average lease length of eight years. Tenants include law firm Sidley Austin, National Bank of Canada, AIB and Samsung Electronics.
Raphael Noe, chief executive at Capreon, said the group looks forward to applying its asset and investment management expertise to support the "continued performance of this exceptional asset".
What the judges said: Shaun Simons, Founder at Compton, said: “Contrary to my nomination for leasing deal of the year, sometimes size does matter. I feel this deal is the worthy winner as large-scale investment transactions have been hard to come by in recent years and this transaction will hopefully instil further confidence into the market showing that London is in fact a great place for local and international capital.”
Mhairi Thomson, associate director at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said: “For an iconic London skyline building to be transacted after a period of low activity, really highlights London’s recovery and investor pull to the city. The occupier credentials in the building are strong, and historically always have been, showing that capital flows to best-in-class space, in exceptional buildings that are located in core locations.”
Alina Sokolenko, of The Association of Sustainable Development Experts, said: “70 St Mary Axe was the largest single-office transaction in London in the past three years and a powerful signal of renewed investor confidence in prime City assets. Completed amid economic uncertainty and muted market activity, the deal established a benchmark for pricing and reaffirmed sustained demand for high-quality, ESG-led Grade A offices in central London.”
James Finnis, head of UK agency at JLL, said: “Both the scale of the deal and the confidence it showed to the market make it a statement transaction."
They made it happen: Macfarlanes and James Hammond of CBRE advised Hayfin and Capreon on the transaction. Clifford Chance, Martin Lay of Cushman & Wakefield and Tony Gibbon and Rupert Williams of Newmark acted on behalf of the vendor. Santander and CaixaBank provided debt financing for the transaction.