Banking giant HSBC is to sell its London headquarters to the National Pension Service of South Korea (NPS) for £772.5m (€864.4m).
HSBC will retain occupancy of the building under the leaseback deal. The headquarters is a skyscraper in London's Canary Wharf business district along the River Thames.
HSBC, which has relocated chief executive Michael Geoghegan to Hong Kong to concentrate on emerging markets, said it would stay in the building for the remaining 17 and a half years of its lease.
'There is no plan to move, headquarters remains in London,' a spokesman for the bank said. The bank also said it would continue with its current rental payment of £46m a year.
HSBC originally entered into a sale and leaseback of the Canada Square office in May 2007 for £1.09 billion. It took back ownership of the building in December 2008 for £838m, resulting in a gain of approximately £250m. Today's announcement will see NPS purchase a 998-year leasehold interest in Canada Square.
The bank today said a gain of approximately £350m would appear on HSBC's income statement on completion of the deal.
