Aware Super & Delancey land €577m in prime London offices

Aware Super and Delancey Real Estate have secured approximately £500 mln (€577 mln) worth of prime office buildings in central London within the past six months.

Aware Super - Delancey

This marks the first acquisitions under their DARE platform, which was launched in October 2024 with a £1 bn (€1.1 bn) investment target in the UK market.
Aware Super and Delancey's initial acquisitions in London include the recently completed 20 Manchester Square in Marylebone, now the new UK headquarters for Lazard, with a 15-year lease. They also bought 11-12 Hanover Square in Mayfair, a high-end mixed-use building with exposure to the West End and Oxford Street. The most recent purchase was Finsbury Circus House, a 13,935 m2 office building near Liverpool Street station that has been in institutional ownership for over three decades.
All three properties are located in prime areas with access to the Elizabeth Line. They benefit from the current strong rental growth for best-in-class offices due to a current imbalance in the London commercial property market.
Dan Dawe, head of Investment at Delancey said: “These are landmark, prime transactions in a sector where the flight to quality is polarising the market for both occupiers and investors. The ongoing market dislocation creates an attractive buying window, and these acquisitions reflect the recognition that multinational corporates have made as to the important role the office plays for brand, culture, training and collaboration.”
Stafford Lancaster, CEO at Delancey commented: “Delancey’s combined debt-and-equity strategies provide a 360-degree view of the Central London office market, and with Aware Super, an exceptional partner, we are able to leverage capital strength with deal sourcing, investment, and asset management capabilities to work together to create a market-leading portfolio, which will deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for their members and our shareholders.”
Aware Super senior property manager – Property UK Mathieu Elshout said: “The strengths of this partnership have been instrumental in Aware Super and Delancey seizing the exciting window of opportunity that has opened as the Central London office market is quickly re-pricing. This demand for landmark, prime office spaces also includes assets with strong existing sustainability credentials but where further upside can be captured through additional ESG-focused initiatives aimed at enhancing environmental performance.”
Aware Super head of international and deputy CIO Damien Webb added: “Together, these transactions signal the return of global institutional capital, which is a major vote of confidence for the Central London office investment market. They also signal a new source of attractive risk-adjusted returns for our 1.2 million members in Australia.”
The DARE partnership also seeks to identify other high-quality, potentially undervalued properties in the UK to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns for Aware Super's members. Potential investments include stabilized assets, development projects, and capital restructurings, with a variety of acquisition types being considered. Aware Super already has a 22% stake in Get Living, a major UK BTR company established by Delancey.