British Land acquires £441m retail park portfolio from Brookfield
British Land has acquired a portfolio of seven retail parks from Brookfield for £441m.
The assets – which between them comprise a total area of around 1.9 million sq ft – have an occupancy level of 99% and a weighted average unexpired lease term of 4.5 years to break and 5.9 years to expiry.
The assets comprise:
- Elliott’s Field Shopping Park, Rugby. Located adjacent to the A426 dual carriageway, the scheme is fully occupied and anchored by M&S.
- Central Retail Park, Falkirk. Also fully occupied, the asset is anchored by M&S and Tesco.
- Wellington Retail Park, Waterlooville. The principal retail destination for the town, the scheme is 99.6% occupied and anchored by M&S.
- Ravenhead Retail Park, St Helens. The retail park is 98.7% occupied and anchored by M&S. It is also home to premium retailers including Nike and Flanners.
- Cleveland Retail Park, Middlesbrough. Located seven minutes’ drive from
Middlesbrough city centre, the scheme is 98.8% occupied and anchored by M&S. - Telford Forge Shopping Park, Telford. Located adjacent to Junction 5 of the M54, the
park is 96.2% occupied and anchored by Sainsbury’s. - Chilwell Retail Park, Nottingham. Situated in the city’s western suburbs, this fully occupied scheme is anchored by M&S.
British Land said the £441m acquisition price represents a net initial yield of 6.7%. The assets have a passing rent of circa £29.5m and an estimated rental value of around £30.4m.
Retail parks now comprise 32% of British Land’s portfolio, up from 22% 18 months ago.
Simon Carter, chief executive of British Land, said: “The acquisition of this high quality portfolio builds upon our market leading position in retail parks. Parks remain the preferred format for retailers and we have deployed £711m of capital into this subsector since 1 April 2024.
“These assets offer an attractive yield and strong rental growth prospects in line with our guidance of 3-5%. Combined with the proposed placing, they will be immediately earnings accretive and are expected to deliver double digit ungeared IRRs (internal rate of return).”
Earlier this year, British Land acquired £240m worth of retail parks, as the real estate investment trust looked to reinvest the £360m it made from the sale of its stake in Meadowhall Shopping Centre.