Last week, the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria gave its approval for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to acquire Kanti Tower, a 6,600sqm office property in Victoria Island for ₦17.47b.

It was developed through a joint venture between the Lagos State Development Property Company – LSDPC and Senkay Nigeria Limited, and primarily funded by Skye Bank Nigeria. Other project team members include AZDEC A.S.C. Design Consultants as the Architect and Cappa and D’Alberto Plc. as the Main Contractor.

Following its completion in 2014, and failure to secure tenants in the months that followed, it was put up for sale for ₦20bn in 2015.

The total purchase consideration for the property was ₦17,471,005,130 inclusive of 7.5% VAT. Once the transaction is concluded, the property will become the headquarters of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Their current head office is located within Maritime House, on 4, Burma Road in Apapa. It is unclear what will happen to Maritime House once the relocation is complete.

The transaction is among the first major office disposals since Cornerstone Tower (Now Everty One) was acquired by Everty (affiliated with Tek Experts) in April 2019. The data points behind the acquisition bring a slightly different take on current market indicators. See the image below for a transaction summary. We profiled similar transactions in our Market Comparable Handbook where we analyzed 54 transactions accounting for over $1.8bn worth of institutional acquisitions and disposals within the retail, office, hospitality, and industrial sectors across Africa over the past two decades. Read that report here.