King Sturge links up with consortium to break into US

  King Sturge has teamed up with one of the largest private retail and leisure specialists in the world to try to break into the North American retail market.   On Friday, the agent signed to become a fee-paying member of ChainLinks Retail Advisors, an Atlanta-based consortium of more than 600 private brokers.   King Sturge, which met ChainLinks at Mapic last year, will be the only UK and European member of the group.   Charles Miller, national head of in-town retail at King Sturge, said: “Our alliance with ChainLinks opens up our horizons, enabling us to access a global market and occupier base that we would not otherwise be able to reach. Retailers need new locations in which to achieve better margins, and landlords want entrants as a point of difference.”   Miller said that the agent would now be able to take UK landlords to the US and introduce them to the heads of all the largest US retailers.   David Schulman, chief executive of ChainLinks, said the firm had been looking to expand into the UK since 2005, and that it had been attracted to King Sturge because of its research capabilities and local knowledge base.   “Retailers in the US can see the completion of their expansion so are looking overseas,” he said. “You have to have a local knowledge base to service your clients.”   The pair said they plan to approach retailers they thought could successfully expand out of their homelands.   Furniture retailers Crate & Barrell and Ethan Allen, and Limited Brands, the parent company of lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, have all recently expressed an interest in expanding out of the US.   Between January 2006 and July 2008, Chainlinks has advised on 16,000 deals for US landlords and retailers.   samantha.mcclary@rbi.co.uk