Capital & Regional is buying The Gyle Shopping Centre in Scotland’s capital city for £40m (€46.3m).
The UK-focused real estate investment trust said it will finance the acquisition of the 415,000sqft community shopping centre in Edinburgh with its existing funds, a new £16m debt facility and £25m of proceeds it expects to raise via an open offer.
The Gyle comprises 88 retail units and is anchored by a Marks & Spencer store and Morrisons supermarket as well.
Lawrence Hutchings, CEO of Capital & Regional, said: “The strong operational results and continued valuation stabilisation we are reporting today give us considerable confidence in our own portfolio, platform and UK community centres strategy, as well as the physical retail market where many of the structural changes are maturing.
“This confidence is also reflected in our announcement this morning of the acquisition of The Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh, which marks the first step towards rescaling our business and fully leveraging our proven skills and management expertise.”
Hutchings added that the acquisition allows Capital & Regional to capitalise on an opportunity to add an established dual supermarket anchored community centre in Scotland’s capital city to its portfolio, in a transaction that will be part-funded by a £25m equity raise available to all existing shareholders and fully underwritten by the firm’s majority shareholder, Growthpoint.
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