THE building home to Scottish Widows' Edinburgh headquarters has changed hands in a deal worth more than £105 million.
The Grade A office block, based at Port Hamilton in the financial services district, has been sold by Aberdeen Asset Management to an unidentified private investor from overseas.
It has been billed as the biggest ever office transaction to take place in Edinburgh, with the sale understood to have attracted bids from a range of UK-based and international investors.
Scottish Widows will continue to occupy the building after its owner, Lloyds Banking Group, agreed a new 25 year lease at the point the sale was concluded.
Scottish Widows has rented the 271,637 square foot building, located just off Lothian Road and a highly visible on the Edinburgh skyline, since 1997.
The terms of the full repairing and insuring lease include a break option on the 15th anniversary.
The rent is subject to an annual increase at a fixed rate of three per cent on the anniversary of the date the lease was agreed.
Alasdair Humphery of JLL Scotland, which acted for Aberdeen Asset on the sale with CBRE, said: "Edinburgh has long marketed itself as a destination for overseas investment, and this sale truly underlines the City's credentials.
"The combination of Edinburgh as an investment prospect, a truly HQ office building and the long secure income resulted in significant interest from global investors and enabled the completion of a quick sale."
Earlier this week it was announced that JLL had worked with CBRE on the sale of the four-star Radisson Blu Hotel on Edinburgh's Royal Mile to a German investment company.
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