HSBC Holdings PLC plans to put up for sale office buildings in New York and Paris as well as its London headquarters, a move that could raise billions of dollars for the U.K. bank.
HSBC plans to send out sales material to roughly 20 real-estate investors this week, a person familiar with the matter said. The decision to put the buildings up for sale followed an expression of interest in them, the person said. It is unclear who may be interested or how much the buildings could fetch.
HSBC plans to send out sales material to roughly 20 real-estate investors this week, a person familiar with the matter said. The decision to put the buildings up for sale followed an expression of interest in them, the person said. It is unclear who may be interested or how much the buildings could fetch.
HSBC’s headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf is the largest of the three properties on offer, at 1.1 million square feet, or about 102,193 square meters. The bank also is sounding out interest in 452 Fifth Ave. in New York as well as the combined property of 103 Avenue des Champs-Élysées and 15 rue Vernet in Paris. HSBC operates about 10,000 properties around the world, totaling 78 million square feet. If the three buildings are sold, HSBC plans to lease back the space.
A sale of the London building wouldn’t be a first. Metrovacesa SA bought it from HSBC for £1.09 billion at the height of the U.K. property boom in early 2007 — and sold it back to the bank a year and a half later for roughly £250 million less.
A sale of the London building wouldn’t be a first. Metrovacesa SA bought it from HSBC for £1.09 billion at the height of the U.K. property boom in early 2007 — and sold it back to the bank a year and a half later for roughly £250 million less.