A European real estate fund managed by Orion Capital Managers is acquiring a £400m (€478m) UK retail parks portfolio from Hammerson.
Hammerson – which seeks to reduce reliance on department stores and enhance the retail mix – said it has agreed to sell the portfolio of seven retail parks to Orion European Real Estate Fund V for a headline price of £400m with expected net proceeds of £395m.
The seven asset portfolio of UK retail parks comprising 205,000sqm of space include the Central Retail Park asset located in Falkirk, Cleveland Retail Park in Middlesbrough and the Cyfarthfa Retail Park in Merthyr Tydfil.
The others are the Elliott’s Field Shopping Park in Rugby, Forge Shopping Park in Telford, Ravenhead Retail Park in St Helens and The Orchard Centre in Didcot.
The UK real estate investment trust said Parc Tawe, Swansea and Abbey Retail Park in Belfast have also been sold individually generating proceeds totalling £55m.
In July 2018, Hammerson announced plans to exit the retail parks sector over the medium term to create a focused portfolio of flagship assets, premium outlets and city quarters across major European cities.
In total, Hammerson has sold 14 retail parks since July 2018.
The group has an interest in one remaining retail park, Brent South, part of the Brent Cross estate, which is held in a joint venture with Aberdeen Standard Investments and is marked for sale.
David Atkins, Hammerson’s CEO, said: “Against a challenged retail and investment backdrop we have exited the retail parks sector. Having achieved disposals of close to £1bn since the beginning of 2019, our focus remains on strengthening our balance sheet to create further resilience.
”The completion of this strategic disposal enables us to create a more concentrated portfolio of flagship venues, premium outlets and City Quarters which we expect will deliver greater levels of both income stability and growth over the medium term.”
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