Ares Management Buys Netflix’s London Office Building

It’s not the deal Netflix expected to be involved in this week, but it’s something.

Ares Management purchased the Copyright Building at 30 Berners Street in London’s Fitzrovia area for roughly £160 million, or $216 million, Bloomberg reported. The price was a slight discount from what German fund manager Union Investment paid to acquire the property back in 2017.

The sole tenant in the building is technically Capita Business Services. But the streaming giant subleases the entire property from Capita.

“We believe the acquisition of the Copyright Building is consistent with our thesis focused on high-quality, well-located assets benefiting from the powerful rental growth we have seen in many of the Central London sub-markets,” an Ares executive stated.

Ares has been increasingly active in London in recent years as landlords try to take advantage of rising rents and occupancy levels. Recent purchases have included 101 New Cavendish Street and 45 Pall Mall in London’s West End.

Sales are popping up across the city; after several years of muted liquidity following rate hikes and post-pandemic uncertainty, central London volumes have rebounded.

Big-ticket trades north of £100 million are reappearing as debt markets stabilize and pricing expectations between buyers and sellers narrow.

Last quarter, there were 68 central London commercial transactions, totaling £3.31 billion, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The full‑year trading volume in the market was £9.76 billion, a 61 percent year-over-year rise and slightly above the five‑year annual average.

Last week, Hines sealed a roughly £195 million sale of a prime West End mixed-use building to U.K. National Lottery operator Allwyn Entertainments, one of the larger central London trades to close this cycle.

Elsewhere this week, Ares acquired an Amazon-leased distribution center in Joliet from Blackstone. The property’s value is likely more than the $49 million price tag, since Ares already held a limited interest.

— Holden Walter-Warner