The Dubai building that is home to Rothschild and UBS has been bought by an investment group in a rare deal for the emirate's moribund office market.
Legatum has bought Precinct Building 6 of the Dubai International Financial Centre - one of the few freehold buildings not directly owned by the financial free zone.
The nine level 128,000 sq ft building will be renamed Legatum Plaza and the company plans to move into two floors that will form its new global headquarters.
"This investment is an expression of Legatum's long-standing belief in the success of Dubai and the DIFC as a world-class home for international finance," said Mark Stoleson, the chief executive of Legatum in a statement. The company did identify the seller or the purchase price.
Dubai has seen just a handful of investment deals involving prime office space since the collapse of property prices more than three years ago. Almost half of the the emirate's 63 million sq ft of completed office now lies empty.
Despite the glut of offices, brokers say investor interest remains for prime buildings in sought-after locations such as the DIFC.
"It underlines the demand that we are seeing for well located, prime assets with good quality income," said Joseph Morris, an associate director in the investment team of Knight Frank, the international property consultancy.
