【英语财经】外国投资机构逆市收购伦敦商业地产 Foreign buyers undeterred by London sell-offs

When Chinese insurer Anbang

bid a reported ￡750m for the Square Mile’s Heron Tower this summer, it set a pricing record — despite the fact that some of its fellow foreign investors had already begun to sell out of the London property market.

Anbang’s deal — which is still under negotiation — is just the latest in a 20-year flow of overseas capital into London’s commercial property market. If the deal is sealed, the price for Heron Tower, built in 2011 by veteran London property developer Gerald Ronson, will top the ￡724m that Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safrapaid for the Gherkin last autumn.

But Anbang is a relative late-comer — investment by fellow Chinese investors in the commercial London market peaked in 2013 at ￡1.9bn, according to figures from property adviser Cushman & Wakefield.

A series of foreign investors who bought properties in central London after the financial crisis have sold up, flipping their properties and pocketing massive profits as rising flows of later-stage capital continue to push up the city’s property prices.

James Beckham, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s central London investment team, characterises these sales as “profit-taking” but said there are still plenty of new entrants in the market wanting to buy in London.

Foreign investors are particularly dominant at the top end of the market. Of the 111 deals worth ￡150m-plus in the past three years, 84 per cent involved foreign buyers, according to Cushman.

Total investment volumes in the central London market hit a record ￡24.6bn last year, Cushman’s figures show, and the agent predicts that this year could exceed that.

The autumn dealmaking season is usually the busiest, as investors seek to empty their bank accounts before the year-end, and experienced advisers expect the coming months to see a particularly large number of transactions.

Anbang’s bid for Heron Tower, officially the Salesforce Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, is likely to be just the first of a series of eye-catching negotiations.

Stephen Down, head of central

London and international sales at estate agency Savills, said there will be “a fairly substantial uptick in stock coming on to the market”.

He added: “The temptation is to think that this means they are calling the market, but that’s not the case.

“It is often private equity companies looking to take profits and return them to -investors.”

The extended global downturn after the financial crisis meant that London’s commercial property market took a long time to recover, Mr Down said; some fund managers that bought early in the cycle are reaching the end of their fund’s life and need to cash in.

Those leaving through the revolving door of London’s property market are bumping into newcomers heading the other way, however. Despite prices and yields being back at pre-crisis records, plenty of investors are piling in cash.

The biggest buyers in the city in the year to date have been Canadian and US investors, according to Cushman data, investing ￡6.5bn between them so far this year.

They are “the bedrock” of the market, Mr Down said. “The market in the US has recovered and there is limited stock to be bought, so as a result that money is flowing over here.”

One of the most prominent transatlantic buyers is Canadian investment group Brookfield Property Partners. Its biggest deal was teaming up with Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority to take over London business district Canary Wharf in January.

It has also started work on the construction of a new City skyscraper shaped like an A-line dress, which is officially called 100 Bishopsgate.

Ric Clark, Brookfield chief executive, is bullish about London’s prospects.

“London is one of the few important capitals of creativity, culture and finance in the world,” he said. “It’s a city we’re excited about.”

He cites the shortage of office space in the City, coupled with rising demand from occupiers as London’s economy grows, as a vital attraction for investors, as it means rents are likely to rise.

Many in the property industry also point to the diversity of the UK’s capital: never before have investors from so many countries been spending in London at the same time.

Others, however, suggest this is false optimism. “With domestic buyers largely displaced by foreign investors, any change in the environment could spark a rapid outflow of capital,” said Richard White, head of UK real estate at KPMG.

当中国保险公司安邦(Anbang)今夏以据称7.5亿英镑竞购伦“一平方英里”（Square Mile，即伦敦金融城，因面积正好一平方英里得名——译者注）的苍鹭大厦(Heron Tower)时，它创下了一项出价记录——尽管一些外国投资机构同行已经开始卖出伦敦地产。

安邦此笔仍在谈判中的交易，只是20年来海外资本流入伦敦商业地产市场的最新一笔。如果这笔交易确认达成，那么苍鹭大厦——由伦敦老牌开发商杰拉尔德?龙森(Gerald Ronson) 2011年建成——的价格，将超过巴西亿万富翁约瑟夫?萨夫拉(Joseph Safra)去年秋天为收购“小黄瓜”大厦(Gherkin)支付的7.24亿英镑。

但安邦只是一个相对的迟来者——房地产顾问公司高纬物业(Cushman & Wakefield)发布的数据显示，中国投资机构在伦敦商业地产市场的投资2013年达到了19亿英镑的峰值。

不少外国投资机构已将金融危机后在伦敦市中心(central London)购买的地产沽清，由于越来越多后期资本流入，继续推高伦敦房地产价格，它们转手即获得巨大利润。

高纬物业伦敦市中心投资团队负责人詹姆斯?贝克姆(James Beckham)将这些出售形容为“获利了结”，但他表示，市场上仍有大量新进入者想在伦敦收购地产。

外国投资机构在高端地产市场占据显著主导地位。高纬物业的数据显示，在过去三年111笔成交价超过1.5亿英镑的交易中，84%都涉及外国买家。

高纬物业数据显示，去年，伦敦市中心地产市场的投资总额达到创纪录的246亿英镑，而该机构预计，今年可能打破这一纪录。

由于投资机构试图在年底前清空自己的银行账户，秋季是交易最繁忙的季节，经验丰富的顾问预计未来几个月达成的交易数量将格外多。

安邦此次竞购苍鹭大厦——官方名称为主教门110号 Salesforce大厦(Salesforce Tower at 110 Bishopsgate)——可能只是一系列吸引眼球的收购谈判的开始。

地产机构第一太平戴维斯(Savills)伦敦市中心及国际销售主管斯蒂芬?唐(Stephen Down)称，“进入市场的存量地产数量将有相当可观地增长”。

他补充说：“人们忍不住会想，这意味着它们在逃顶，但事实并非如此。

“通常是私人股本公司希望结清利润，并返还给投资者。”

唐说，金融危机后，不断延长的全球经济低迷意味着伦敦商业地产市场花了很长时间才恢复；一些在周期早期收购地产的基金公司已经接近到期，需要兑取现金。

然而，那些通过伦敦房地产市场旋转门离开的投资机构与迎面而来的新进入者撞了个满怀。尽管价格和收益率回升到了危机前的创纪录水平，很多投资机构都在大举投入资金。

高纬物业数据显示，今年迄今，伦敦金融城的最大买家一直是加拿大和美国投资机构，共投资了65亿英镑。

它们是伦敦商业地产市场的“基石”，唐说，“美国的地产市场已经复苏，能收购的存量地产有限，所以，资金就流到了这里。”

最显眼的跨大西洋买家之一是加拿大地产投资集团Brookfield Property Partners。该集团的最大笔交易，是今年1月与中东主权财富基金卡塔尔投资局(QIA)合作收购伦敦商业区金丝雀码头(Canary Wharf)。

而且，该集团已经开始在伦敦金融城建造一座新的、外形酷似A字形连衣裙的摩天大楼，其正式名称为主教门100号 (100 Bishopsgate)。

该集团首席执行官里克?克拉克(Ric Clark)非常看好伦敦的未来。

“伦敦是世界上少数几个拥有创造性、文化和金融的重要首都之一。”他说，“它是一个我们为之兴奋的城市。”

他认为，金融城办公空间短缺，加上随着伦敦经济增长而不断增加的空间租赁需求，是吸引投资者的关键因素，因为这意味着租金可能上涨。

许多房地产业内人士也指出英国首都的多样性：以前从未出现过来自如此多国家的投资机构在同一时间投资于伦敦的情况。

然而，也有人认为这是虚假的乐观主义。“大多数国内买家被外国投资机构取代，任何风吹草动都可能引发资本快速外流，”毕马威(KPMG)英国房地产业务主管理查德?怀特(Richard White)说。

译者/陈隆祥