Peter Ferrari’s Ashby Capital is set to make its retail debut with the acquisition of a Welsh shopping park.
The former Heron International joint chief executive’s propco, which has £1.5bn of backing from Middle Eastern investors, has exchanged contracts to buy Morfa shopping park in Swansea from the Crown Estate.
It will pay £83.5m – a 6% yield – for the 256,000 sq ft fully let centre. Quadrant Estates will act as asset manager on behalf of Ashby.
Since launching in 2013, Ashby has focused on central London offices and development opportunities but has begun to cast its net more widely this year as yields have compressed in the capital.
It made its first regional purchase in the summer with the £140m acquisition of Colmore Plaza in Birmingham from Carlyle Group.
The acquisition of Morfa Park reflects the increasing tendency of core office investors to seek higher returns in regional retail.
China’s Gingko Tree and US-based Hines are among a string of major investors to have adopted similar strategies.
For Quadrant Estates, which spent the early part of the cycle focusing on central London office development before turning its attention to retail parks, the joint venture reflects a significant new relationship.
The niche development and asset manager has typically worked with private equity groups including Orion, CarVal and KKR.
The opportunity to acquire Morfa, which has a rent roll of £5.3m, emerged after a deal to sell it to a joint venture between Westmount Real Estate and Gatehouse Bank failed to complete.
CWM advised Ashby and Quadrant; Wilkinson Williams acted for the Crown Estate.
