The landmark building on the Esplanade was sold by developers Dandara for around £90 million to Seaton Place Ltd, which sources commercial real estate assets for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices and wealth managers.
Seaton Place Ltd is the investment adviser for Gaspé House IC, the investment vehicle for the transaction. Giles Adu, a director of Seaton Place, confirmed that Gaspé House IC is made up of a small club of local and non-local ultra-high-net-worth and family office investors.
CBRE Jersey was the property adviser on the transaction on behalf of the purchaser. Jon Carter, managing director of CBRE’s Jersey office, said: ‘This is the largest ever single commercial property transaction in Jersey and indeed the Channel Islands.
‘This acquisition shows tremendous confidence within the local finance industry and the Island as a whole. The property is Jersey’s most impressive commercial building and the tenants are all first-class, high-profile names’.
Gaspé House was completed in 2016 and its six floors and 164,000 square feet of space are fully let on long leases to tenants such as Royal Bank of Canada, First Names Group, Collas Crill and Deloitte.
It is described as a Grade A office building.
The building was on the market for offers in excess of £88.85 million.
Andy Seaman, director of Seaton Place, said: ‘We are pleased to be able to secure Gaspé House in spite of tremendous competition from large global institutional investors. We intend to roll-out our strategy of utilising high-quality income from commercial real estate and bonds to provide bespoke targeted portfolio solutions for investors across fixed income and property asset classes’.
Carey Olsen advised Seaton Place and CBRE Jersey was the property adviser. Tax advice and financial due diligence was provided by Smith & Williamson and corporate services by Praxis Fund Services (Jersey) Ltd. Lloyds Bank International provided senior debt to help fund the acquisition.
