Mormon Church in Talks to Buy $129 Million London Office Building

Bloomberg/April 29, 2019

By Jack Sidders and Prashant Gopal

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in exclusive negotiations to buy a City of London office building whose tenants include Lloyds Banking Group Plc, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

A subsidiary of the church, which has a multi-billion-dollar global property portfolio that encompasses malls, resorts and farmland, is close to completing a deal to buy the Alder Castle building at 10 Noble Street for about 100 million pounds ($129 million), said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A fund managed by M&G Real Estate is selling the building, the people said.

Spokesmen for Property Reserve Inc., a real estate subsidiary of the church, and M&G Investments declined to comment.

The church oversees an opaque empire of investments designed to help fund its work. It says properties such as the $2 billion City Creek Center mall developed by the church in Salt Lake City are designed to help causes such as combating urban blight. Investments such as the Alder Castle building, which has long-term leases to corporate tenants, help provide income to support the church’s other activities.

A subsidiary of the church’s AgReserves Inc. company already owns substantial farmland in the U.K., according to media reports. The Property Reserve spokesman declined to comment on the extent of the church’s real estate investments in London.

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