The home of one of London’s most-popular tourist attractions, Madame Tussauds, is up for sale with a price tag of more than £320 million.
Property veteran Nick Leslau has put the Marylebone building — occupied by the waxworks for 130 years and currently boasting images of the likes of Beyoncé, above — on the market through agents CBRE.
Merlin Entertainments owns the Tussauds business, 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.
Tussauds generates £15.5 million a year in rent.
The waxwork’s lease runs for another 27 years, with the option to extend by a further 70.
Leslau added: “Since we listed people have looked at our portfolio and inevitably you get calls. We decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to do an off-market deal.”
On the potential buyer he said: “It’s possible, but less likely, to be a UK institution. It’s more likely to be a sovereign wealth fund or a high net-worth individual.”
