TRAFALGAR House has agreed to pay GBP10 million (about HK$120 million) for the bomb-damaged Baltic Exchange shipping market site and building in the City of London.
The Baltic, the world's oldest shipping market, has found a new home, 21/2 years after an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb devastated its historic site at St Mary Axe.
The exchange, where much of the world's dry bulk shipping is chartered, will move to the former Inchcape House, an elegant building just yards from its old site.
The new building will have a trading floor of similar proportions to the present one and about 20,000 square feet of office space to let to exchange members, the Baltic said.
The agreement, made with Trafalgar House, has still to be approved by exchange shareholders, it said.
Trafalgar, 25.3 per cent owned by Hongkong Land Holdings, said the agreement hinged on the Baltic paying GBP12.75 million for the nearby freehold property which it plans to move to next year.
