Citigroup Said to Offer London Docklands Office Space for Rent

(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. plans to sublease office space equivalent in size to three soccer fields at the 25 Canada Square tower in London's Canary Wharf financial district, according to two people with knowledge of the plan.

The company has hired Knight Frank to work alongside existing broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc. to find tenants for space that the bank currently subleases to other companies, the people said, asking not to be identified because the plan is private. A spokesman for Citigroup declined to comment.

Corporate demand for office space has fallen in the wake of the Brexit vote, with BNP Paribas SA estimating that firms leased 19 percent less office space in central London in 2016 than a year earlier. The largest leasing deal in the British capital was the U.K. government's agreement to occupy 540,000 square feet in Canary Wharf previously occupied by Barclays Plc.

The brokers will market 170,000 square feet of office space in the 1.2 million square foot tower at 25 Canada Square, the joint highest tower in the financial district, according to a Knight Frank statement that did not identify Citigroup as its client. A spokesman for the broker declined to comment beyond the statement.

The U.S. bank leases the entire tower and the adjoining 33 Canada Square building, which together make up its European headquarters. About 87,500 square feet of space in the skyscraper was subleased to other tenants including HSBC Holdings Plc in the last year, the Knight Frank statement said.

The bank previously offered to rent about 300,000 square feet of space at the tower to tax authorities in October, people familiar with the matter at the time. A final decision has yet to be taken by the government about what building in east London to lease.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell