A new ethical investment joint venture is planning to spend more than £100m buying shopping centres in some of Britain’s most run-down towns.
Retail specialist Ellandi and ethical fund manager Bridges Ventures have allocated around £100m of equity, which will be geared up, to buy community shopping centres in deprived areas, such as Hastings in East Sussex and Bradford in Yorkshire.
They will target assets that offer “outstanding risk-adjusted returns” where investment would generate “improved social outcomes” for the local area. The jv will focus on emerging locations which feature in the bottom 20% of the Index of Multiple Deprivations’ list of most deprived wards.
The 20 local authorities with the highest proportion of Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) Source: DCLG
| IMD 2010 | IMD 2010 | Change from 2007 | Change from 2007 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of LSOAs among 10% most deprived | Proportion of LSOAs in the district among the most deprived | Number of LSOAs | Percentage change | |
| Liverpool | 148 | 51% | -14 | -9% |
| Middlesbrough | 41 | 47% | 0 | 0% |
| Manchester | 118 | 46% | -17 | -13% |
| Knowsley | 45 | 45% | -2 | -4% |
| Kingston-upon-Hull | 70 | 43% | -2 | -3% |
| Hackney | 57 | 42% | -19 | -25% |
| Tower Hamlets | 52 | 40% | -20 | -28% |
| Birmingham | 251 | 39% | -3 | -1% |
| Blackpool | 35 | 37% | 5 | 17% |
| Hartlepool | 21 | 36% | 1 | 5% |
| Blackburn-with-Darwen | 31 | 34% | -2 | -6% |
| Burnley | 20 | 33% | 6 | 43% |
| Salford | 47 | 33% | -4 | -8% |
| Newham | 50 | 31% | -3 | -6% |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 50 | 31% | -3 | -6% |
| Bradford | 94 | 31% | 4 | 4% |
| Sandwell | 57 | 30% | 2 | 4% |
| Pendle | 17 | 30% | 1 | 6% |
| Haringey | 42 | 29% | 3 | 8% |
| Hastings | 15 | 28% | 1 | 7% |
The jv has been seeded with the £12.2m – 7.5% yield – acquisition of the Parkway shopping centre in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, which it bought from a private propco advised by Lambert Smith Hampton.
The freehold mall comprises a 117,000 sq ft Tesco Extra and a 93,000 sq ft shopping centre anchored by Iceland, Peacocks, Home Bargains and Boots.
Bridges’ commitment to the jv is being made on behalf of its Bridges Property Alternatives Fund III, which held a £212m final close at the start of July.
The fund aims to achieve a range of community benefits, including increasing economic and social activity in areas that are under-served by retail facilities.
Ellandi property director Mark Robinson said: “Ellandi has always believed that our returns should also be measured in terms of the impact that we make on the communities where we invest, so it is very exciting to be aligned with a financial partner that has similar core values.”
Ellandi and Bridges were represented by Lisney.
