"We started a big push into London development in 2010, and to check out of that now is a real vindication of our strategy," he said, adding that the sale had "crystallised a huge return". "It cost us £473m to build and we've sold it for £1.28bn - that's virtually unprecedented," he said. Land Securities will hand £475m of the expected £634.5m of proceeds of the sale to shareholders in the autumn. Mr Noel said that while the company did not anticipate selling more of its larger assets, no building was sacrosanct. James Beckham, head of London capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, which advised LKK on the deal, said Asian interest in London real estate has spiked since the vote to leave the EU. “This record-breaking deal demonstrates the enormous investor appetite in London, and in the City’s reputation as the global place to do business," he said. "Since the vote to leave the EU, capital targeting London from the Asia-Pacific region has increased to record levels. This is partly due to currency fluctuations but is more indicative of longer-term confidence in London and investment strategies, which are not derailed by short-term political uncertainty."
The Walkie Talkie building in the City of London has been sold to Chinese company Lee Kum Kee for £ 1.28bn ( $ 2017 ) , the largest deal ever made in the UK for a single office building . The building was purchased by the company ’s China Products subsidiary , which deals in Chinese herbal health items and property investment . The building has 37 storeys , around 700,000 sq feet of office space , 17,000 m² of retail space and a visitor attraction named the Sky Garden . Developer Land Securities owned half the building with an investor group holding the rest .