The home of one of London’s most-popular tourist attractions, Madame Tussauds, is set to fall into Taiwanese hands, it has emerged.
Property veteran Nick Leslau put the Marylebone building — occupied by the waxworks for 130 years — on the market through agents CBRE in February with a price tag of more than £320 million.
After a three-month tour taking in the US and the Far East, Taiwanese insurer Fubon Life is now under offer to buy the site, according to Estates Gazette. Sources confirmed Fubon as the likely buyer.
UK firm Merlin Entertainments owns the historic Tussauds business, boasting models of the likes of boyband One Direction and actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
But the building belongs to Secure Income Reit, which floated last year with a £1.5 billion portfolio including Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in Surrey. Leslau’s Prestbury Investments advises Secure.
The home of Tussauds would be the highest-profile acquisition so far by Fubon following changes to rules which allowed Taiwanese life insurers to invest in overseas property in 2013.
Fubon has spent more than £300 million so far on two offices in the City of London, One Carter Lane and Bow Bells House, late last year.
Tussauds generates £15.5 million a year in rent. The waxworks’ lease runs for another 27 years, with the option to extend by a further 70.
