Goldman Sachs sells its London head quarter for $1.5 billion

Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday it had sold its new, unfinished European headquarters in London to South Korea's National Pension Service for 1.17 billion pounds ($1.49 billion) before moving staff to the site next year. As part of the agreement, the Wall Street investment bank will lease the building, which is still under construction and not due to be occupied by the bank until 2019, for an initial period of 25 years. The bank announced it would build the 1.1 million square foot (102,000 square metre) office, called Plumtree Court, in February 2017, even as it and other global banks grappled with the risks of Brexit. "The development of Plumtree Court and our signing of a long-term lease demonstrates our continued commitment to London and our European operations more broadly," said Richard Gnodde, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and CEO of Goldman Sachs International, in a statement.