Birmingham outlet sold in £53m deal
Birmingham’s Erdington shopping centre is one of five malls which have been acquired for £53m by NewRiver Retail, the retail-focused real estate investment trust.
The acquisition, from the CPI Retail Active Management fund, was financed by a £34.58m facility provided by HSBC and £19m raised from a share issue.
Also included in the deal were centres in West Sussex, Leeds, Hampshire and Wallsend.
Tenants at the budget-focused outlets include Tesco, Iceland, Lidl, Argos, New Look, Poundstretcher and Boots.
NewRiver said the deal reflected its strategy of targeting assets with stable and affordable rental income streams. The portfolio represents an “attractive” net initial yield of 8.35 per cent.
Allan Lockhart, executive property director of NewRiver, said the selling price represented a discount of approximately 32 per cent to the last time the portfolio was sold and a 42 per cent discount to its peak value of £92m in December 2006.
