We are not quite ready to sell out yet.
However, Nick Leslau’s Secure Income REIT has put Madam Tussaud’s on market.
The group has put a price tag of more than £320m on the world famous attraction, which has housed waxworks of the rich and famous since 1884.
The statement said following unsolicited expressions of interest the group had appointed CBRE to undertake a marketing campaign ahead of the potential sale of the tourist mecca.
The freehold property on Marylebone Road in Central London is let on a full repairing and insuring lease to Merlin Attractions Operations, the owner and operator of Madame Tussaud’s. The lease is guaranteed by Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second biggest visitor attraction business with a market capitalisation of around £4bn.
The lease runs for a minimum of a further 27 years with the option for the tenant to extend by up to a further 70 years upon expiry, bringing the potential tenancy length to almost 100 years from today. The current rent payable on the property is £15.5m a year and the lease provides for uncapped, upward only annual rent reviews throughout the term geared to RPI.
Madame Tussauds has occupied the current site for more than 130 years and has consistently been one of London’s most successful tourist attractions. This is the first time ever that this property investment has been offered for sale individually in the open market.
The statement form Secure Income said: “There can be no certainty that any sale will occur or as to the nature or terms of any such transaction. The company’s strategy remains firmly to invest in and hold for the long term high quality assets which generate very long term income from exceptional tenants.”
