Linklaters advises Ho Bee Land on purchase of ‘The Scalpel’, landmark London office tower

Linklaters has advised Ho Bee Land Limited (HBL), a property group listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange, on its acquisition of the prestigious Grade A office tower at 52 Lime Street in London. HBL will acquire all the ordinary shares of the Jersey SPV, which owns the freehold interest of the property, for £718 million.

Dubbed ‘The Scalpel’ because of its sleek and geometrical intersecting reflective planes, the landmark office tower, which is strategically located at the junction of Lime Street and Leadenhall Street, is 675 feet in height and built on a freehold site of about 0.31 hectares. It offers approximately 406,000 square feet of best-in-class Grade A office space spread over 36 storeys and three retail units at ground and basement levels.

Sustainability was a key pillar in the design of The Scalpel, with the building achieving a classification of BREEAM “Excellent” and an Energy Performance Certificate rating of B.

The building is predominantly multi-let to reputable tenants from the insurance, financial, legal and tech sectors, with the long tenancies of the leases offering a secure 10-year passing rent of £29 million and an attractive yield of 4%. 

The Linklaters team was led by Global Head of Real Estate, Andy Bruce, with managing associates Matt Plaskow, Kathryn Griffiths and Kate Pearson. 

Linklaters’ real estate team advises leading global investors, developers, occupiers and financial institutions with major space requirements on their largest and most complex or multi-jurisdictional real estate transactions and disputes. 

The global real estate group includes specialists in real estate M&A, real estate investment and development, real estate finance and tax, real estate funds, derivatives and structured finance and real estate disputes, environment and planning/zoning.