Lisbon, Portugal

- ABN-AMRO

Brief
ABN AMRO held a fixed term lease with 18 months unexpired over 3 floors of Café Lisboa. The rent was in excess of market levels and ABN wished to reduce the office area they occupied.
One of the principal concerns of this operation was the potential loss of signage should ABN renegotiate their lease or relocate to another office.
C&W were retained to find a real estate solution, considering a potential new lease and relocation or a renegotiation of the existing lease and staying in situ.

Solution
C&W worked closely with ABN, building a strategy that would identify appropriate relocation opportunities whilst marketing the excess office. In parallel to this we were in regular contact with the landlord, attempting to renegotiate the lease and free ABN from their obligation.
The landlord held firm, resisting lease renegotiation. ABN & C&W inspected all relocation options, creating a shortlist of 3 offices in addition to the existing office.
All 4 landlords were asked to make their best proposals to ABN’s heads of terms that improved on their current contractual position, requesting an increase in flexibility at lower rent levels.
Each option was analysed and compared on a financial and contractual bases. Importantly this analysis took into account total costs and not just the annual rent.
Using extensive knowledge of the Lisbon office market C&W negotiated with the owners of the short listed properties to achieve the ‘true’ best offers.
Under the pressure created by going to the market the existing landlord finally agreed to a renegotiation. We were able to surrender the existing lease with 4 months to run and renew with Café Lisboa on a reduced office area and reduced rent.

Conclusion
C&W were able to achieve substantial savings of over 20% for ABN, represented by reduced area and rent and other incentives and ABN retained their signage rights.

Lessons Learnt
How to create a climate of competition amongst landlords in order to reach the tenant’s objectives;
Pursue a set of a priori conflicting objectives and manage to reach them all.

Keys To Success
Going to market, thus effectively mounting pressure on landlord Professional approach;
Market expertise, including comparables and negotiating power.

For more information contact:

Services:

Printer Friendly Version