In July well known food brand Princes paid £60m for the Royal Liver Building on Liverpool waterfront and now says it has retained agency CBRE to manage and market the site. Tony McDonough reports
Food giant Princes has retained CBRE to both manage and market the Royal Liver Building on Liverpool waterfront.
In July Princes agreed a deal with Corestate Capital to acquire the iconic Grade I-listed building, one of the famous Three Graces, for £60m. Corestate, which bought the building for £48m in 2017, had originally put it up for sale in 2022 with a £90m price tag.
Princes, a division of part of the Italian-owned NewPrinces Group, already has its UK corporate headquarters in the building with 400 staff plans to expand its footprint, using it as a multi-purpose venue for events, collaboration and public engagement.
This latest agreement will see two CBRE teams – project management and office agency -retained at the Royal Liver. Both teams have played an integral role in breathing new life into the site since being appointed in 2012.
Andrew Willoughby, director of CBRE’s property management team, said: “We are delighted to continue our involvement in the management of the Royal Liver Building.
“The team has done a great job in positioning the building as the best in class customer experience, and we look forward to working with Princes in delivering the next phase of its journey.”
Once the tallest office building in Europe, the Royal Liver Building was completed in July 1911. It was opened as the purpose-built headquarters of the fast-growing Royal Liver Assurance society, which had been set up in 1850.
In 2011, the Royal Liver Group was taken over by Royal London Group in a deal that also included ownership of the Royal Liver Building. By that point, Royal Liver staff occupied only part of the site with other floors let out to multiple business tenants.
In 2016 Royal London put the building up for sale with a price tag of £40m. In February 2017 Luxembourg-based investor Corestate Capital acquired it. Its joint partner in the deal was Farhad Moshiri, former majority shareholder of Everton Football Club.
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Simon Harrison, Princes chief executive, added: “Liverpool is important to our heritage, having been a tenant at the Royal Liver Building since 1982 with more than 400 colleagues based there.
“The acquisition further reinforces our deep connection to the city and our dedication to create a stable and sustainable operating base for the future.
“We recognise the significance of this iconic asset and are honored to assume its custodianship. Partnering with CBRE, we are dedicated to preserving its unique character and maximizing its potential for future success.”