LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Asset Management has agreed to buy the Bishops Square office site in the capital's City finance district in a deal worth nearly $900 million. The J.P. Morgan division has agreed to buy the site from a joint venture comprised of British property group Hammerson and the Oman Investment Fund. The companies said the transaction was based on a property price of 557 million pounds ($884 million). The value of the property as of June 30, 2010 stood at 510 million pounds, they added. The Bishops Square site, which was developed and completed by Hammerson in 2005, mainly comprises of office space let out to City law firm Allen & Overy. "We remain bullish on investing in high-quality, well-tenanted office properties located throughout Europe's most important cities and this acquisition represents a further expansion of our funds' core property portfolio in Europe," said Peter Reilly, head of J.P. Morgan Asset Management's European Real Estate Group. Hammerson said its net proceeds from the sale of its stake in Bishops Square stood at 79 million pounds. Hammerson and the Oman Investment Fund were advised by Clifford Chance and Jones Lang LaSalle, while J.P. Morgan was advised by Berwin Leighton Paisner and Deloitte. ($1=.6301 Pound) (Editing by Hans Peters) Keywords: HAMMERSON JPMORGAN/ (sudip.kargupta@reuters.com; +44 207 542 9795; Reuters Messaging:sudip.kargupta.reuters.com@reuters.net ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.
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