A Och-Ziff Real Estate joint venture has bought a UK high street retail property unit trust from Rockspring.
The US investment manager and partner Addington Capital paid £60m (€85.1m) for the Retail Plus Property Trust, a Jersey unit trust managed by Rockspring Property Investment Managers.
The trust holds a portfolio of 12 regional UK high street assets, which Addington Capital will manage.
Steven Orbuch, president of the company’s real estate arm, said the UK high street sector had been under “meaningful pressure during the downturn”.
“There are selective opportunities within the sector that are attractive given the underlying UK recovery,” he said.
“There are interesting opportunities to reposition and re-let certain high street properties.”
The companies will look to sign new tenants for the portfolio, which is in London, Cheltenham, Leeds, Newcastle and Shrewsbury.
The firm’s closed-end real estate debt fund is targeting returns of more than 10%. In addition to real estate debt, Och-Ziff has invested in distressed property in the US, attracting pension fund capital from New Jersey and Sacramento County.
