RREEF snaps up UK mall for £60m

Germany's RREEF Spezial Invest has bought Prince Bishops shopping centre in Durham, UK from Irish investor BlackRock for £60 mln (EUR 68 mln).

The city-centre scheme was opened in 1998 and comprises 14,000 m² of retail space distributed across 43 shops. The mall is anchored by high-street retailer BHS and drugstore chain Boots. There is also a 400-space multi-storey car park.

RREEF embarked on an investment drive in early in 2008 to increase the UK weighting for its German institutional fund range. 'The UK shopping centre market continues to offer good value and higher income return especially where there are the opportunities to acquire dominant city centre schemes,' said Georg Allendorf, head of RREEF Germany. He added: 'We expect to see further attractive investment opportunities in the UK over the course of 2009 and 2010.'

The investment bolsters RREEF's recent acquisitions in Europe. In July this year, RREEF Spezial Invest spent around EUR 100 mln to acquire the office property at 25 Moorgate in the City of London, a logistics centre located outside of Maidstone, Kent, and an office building located in Paris' La Defense.

The company currently manages five special funds for institutional clients with a total value of around EUR 1.7 bn.