Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Helical plc on £158.5 million sale of TikTok's London HQ to Chinachem Group

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised long standing client Helical plc, on the £158.5 million sale of the single asset company, Farringdon East (Jersey) Limited, which owns the long leasehold interest in Kaleidoscope, Lindsey Street, EC1.

Kaleidoscope is a six storey 88,580 sq ft office building which sits above the Farringdon East Crossrail Station and is occupied in its entirety by tech unicorn TikTok, the popular short form video hosting service owned by Bytedance.

Clifford Chance previously advised Helical on the leasing of the entire building to TikTok who took a 15 year lease in March 2021. The PLP designed scheme is accredited BREEAM Excellent, WiredScore Platinum and provides a 5,000 sq ft roof terrace together with high quality end of journey facilities and features integrated artwork by Dutch artists De Makers Van.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Real Estate Partner Ian Painter, who commented: "We were very pleased to work with the Helical team once again to support them through the full life cycle of another high quality sustainable asset. It has been exciting to be involved in Helical's Farringdon East Crossrail over-station development work since the project began, starting with the acquisition from the former landowners and the development deal with Transport for London and Crossrail in 2018, then the development and construction of the site through to the letting of the whole building to TikTok and now Helical's exit by way of corporate sale. This also follows other high profile office projects that we have worked with Helical on recently, such as the acquisition of Baker & McKenzie's offices at 100 New Bridge Street and the disposal of 55 Bartholomew Close."

Clifford Chance regularly advises Helical plc on its big ticket transactions including in relation to joint ventures, acquisitions, disposals, forward fundings and key lettings.

Matthew Bonning-Snook, Property Director at Helical, commented: "Kaleidoscope was the first over station development to complete on the Elizabeth Line and we were able to attract one of the world's fastest growing tech businesses due to its striking design, highly accessible location, excellent amenities and strong environmental credentials. We will now seek to recycle the proceeds from the sale into delivering new highly sustainable 'best-in-class' Central London office schemes, where occupier demand remains strong."

Working alongside Ian on the real estate and corporate aspects, the Clifford Chance team included Real Estate Senior Associate Melissa Jones. London Head of Real Estate and Head of Planning and Environment Nigel Howorth, supported by Senior Associate Katie Kempthorne and Associate Kate Mackintosh, advised on planning. Construction advice was provided by Head of UK Real Estate Construction Marianne Toghill supported by Senior Associate Adam Waite.