TIAA-CREF, the US’ leading pension provider for the academic, medical and cultural industries, has purchased two office buildings at Canary Wharf in London for a total of £206.5m. INVESCO Real Estate handled the deal on behalf of TIAA-CREF.
Boasting $59bn (e48.7bn) in real estate assets, TIAA-CREF is one of the US’ largest institutional investors in the sector. It purchased the Canary Wharf buildings from The Songbird Consortium as a part of a strategy to increase its European exposure.
The properties are one and seven Westferry Circus. The former, which comprises 218,910 ft2 of office and retail accommodation, is predominantly let to Texaco until 2019. The latter, which comprises 176,874 ft2 of office and retail accommodation, is mainly let to EMEA until 2014.
Rob Johnston, the head of INVESCO Real Estate’s UK transaction team said: “This is a significant deal and underscores TIAA-CREF’s commitment to its European real estate investment program.”
Brian Belliveau, director of TIAA-CREF’s European investment programme, said: “We’re very pleased with this investment. It enables us to enter into a new submarket of London - in which we see a strong future - and to add high-quality assets to our European portfolio.”

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