Having negotiated the acquisition of 46,000sq ft of new offices at the News Building (Baby Shard), London Bridge for Q1 2016, Ask-re were instructed to 'ship out' 3 floors of offices at the Cotton’s Centre, London Bridge where ED & F Man had moved from Sugar Quay 13 years before.
Our mission was to ‘export’ the cost and liabilities from the business, timed to coincide with ED & F Man's relocation in to the News Building. Marketing began in late Summer 2015, when the exit path for the business operation could be assured and actions committed. Markets hate uncertainty but this was just one of our challenges in getting the space disposed of—could we deliver? Yes we could!
We progressively marketed the old offices whilst dealing with the challenging terms of the leaseholds being offered, using all the media outlets we could think of including letter-drops and direct-calling. In this tech-driven world, tradition still works!
Over Autumn 2015, we dealt with the financial, practical and legal loose-ends of assigning the existing leases and eventually agreed terms for year-end transactions, so that the ED & F Man business had certainty of successful, co-ordinated and well-executed mobilisation and relocation out of its old offices and out of its ongoing liabilities.
Offices exported, savings imported, to start the New Year!
The biggest ‘win’ is certainty and security for the ED & F Man business operation but in its new London Bridge home the financial savings will make a contribution to the new financial year.
