A leading diversified real estate investment fund has paid more than £43m for St Johns Shopping Centre in Leeds and a car showroom in Nottingham. The twin purchase brings Valad Europe’s takes the value of Valad Europe’s UK portfolio to £288m.
“Both of these assets were selected because of their excellent locations in Britain’s Northern Powerhouse and their potential to increase value through smart asset management,” explained Simon Marriott, Valad Europe’s head of UK real estate.
St Johns Shopping Centre — purchased from Hermes Investment Management for £37m — cover a total of 162,000 sq ft, including 79,000 sq ft of retail mall space. There is 83,000 sq ft of offices on the first floor.
The 34 shop units are fully occupied by several well known brands such as McDonalds, Post Office, Poundland and Virgin Media. Among the office tenants are bookmakers William Hill plc and Sanef, the European road toll company.
The 42,335 sq ft car showroom in Nottingham was acquired for £5.5m. Its tenants include Vertu Motors Plc, trading as Bristol Street Motors, and New College Nottingham Corporation, a further and higher education college. Spreading across the ground floor are several showrooms, offices, workshops and a valeting block, with a café and classrooms on the floor above.
“In the UK, we are targeting assets from all sectors as we continue to build Valad’s diversified portfolio,” continued Marriott. “Last year the Fund purchased The Royals shopping centre in Southend which had a business plan similar to our strategy for St Johns and where we are currently implementing a number of value-adding initiatives.”
Commenting on the St Johns Centre transaction, Hermes Real Estate chief executive, Chris Taylor, “The sale of St Johns Centre follows a comprehensive asset management strategy over recent years, which has included the introduction of a number of high profile tenants, including both William Hill and Sanef. This result is reflective of the strength of the retail and office market in Leeds and we retain a strong interest in the city through our investment at Wellington Place.”
Valad Europe manages €5.3bn (£3.8bn) of real estate assets and investments across its 24 European funds and mandates. These include more than 400 properties with around 3,700 tenants, managed by local teams in 22 offices across 13 countries.
Thierry Leleu, Valad Europe’s head of funds management, confirmed: “We have now acquired 20 assets for Valad in the UK and are still looking to deploy further capital across the fund’s target markets of the UK, Germany and France with strong and continued support from our investors on value-add asset plays.
“We are well underway implementing the business plans of assets in the portfolio, with the aim of enhancing income and capital values over the life of the fund,” he added.
In a separate transaction, confirmed this morning [Monday], Valad has sold Untertürkheimer Straße 15-23 in Berlin, for €12.5m (£9.4m).
The 297,000 sq ft asset comprises 230,000 sq ft of warehouse space and 67,000 sq ft of office space across a five-storey office building and a separate single storey mixed office and warehouse building. The long-term occupier of both buildings is a leading German automotive group.
