London’s ‘Can of Ham’ tower is up for sale again but price slashed

London’s ‘Can of Ham’ skyscraper has been put back on sale for a reduced price two years after the first attempt to sell the distinctive building.

The property has hit the market with an asking price of £322m, having previously been valued at around £400m when it was last on sale in 2022.

The new listing follows a prolonged slump in high value property transactions in recent years.

Nuveen Real Estate, the asset management arm of US-based TIAA, has owned the 21-storey high tower at 70 St Mary Axe since its completion back in 2019.

London’s super-prime market appears to be following a similar track to the general market as optimism increases.

This decision has come as demand for office space has begun to stabilise, with the firm’s head of European offices announcing that ‘core capital is returning to London’.

Newmark and real estate agent Cushman & Wakefield are managing the sale.

The ‘Can of Ham’, named after its curved shape, is fully leased with tenants including law firm Sidley Austin, which generates 30 per cent of the building’s rental income.

Other notable tenants include Samsung Electronics and National Bank of Canada, with a weighted average lease term of nearly nine years.

The listing follows Brookefield’s City Point building recently entering the market with an asking price of £500m at the beginning of the month.

However while CityPoint, an older building, needs renovation, the Can of Ham is seen as a gauge of investor appetite for modern, high-spec properties.

The sale comes amid a broader downturn in European office transactions.

In the first half of 2024, no City of London offices sold for under £100m, a first since 1999.

Yet across Europe, office transaction volumes fell by 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, according to MSCI.

Despite this, market experts suggest a recovery is on the horizon, driven in part by anticipated interest rate cuts from central banks, including the Bank of England.

Nuveen’s move forms part of a broader strategy to raise capital for reinvestment as market conditions improve.

Several major UK real estate players, such as British Land and GPE, have similarly moved to raise equity to seize opportunities in the recovering market.

As demand for City skyscrapers have historically been driven by investors from Southern and East Asia, potential buyers for the Can of Ham are likely to include firms from Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as private equity.

However, American investors have remained cautious in expanding their office investments amid market uncertainty.