Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has added a further 1m sq ft to its growing portfolio of shopping centres, following the completion of deals to buy Princesshay in Exeter, Fremlin Walk in Maidstone and the Olympus Centre in Quedgeley.
The retailer has splashed more than £100m on the three assets.
It has bought the 600,000 sq ft Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter, Devon, in two tranches – a 50% stake from Nuveen and the remaining share from the Crown Estate. It is understood to have invested around £80m acquiring the mall.
In Maidstone, Kent, it paid M&G around £26m for the 350,000 sq ft Fremlin Walk Shopping Centre, while the 65,000 sq ft Olympus Centre in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, was bought from Royal London Asset Management.
Fremlin Walk is undergoing a significant refurbishment that will see a 70,000 sq ft multi-brand Frasers flagship store become an anchor for the shopping centre. A new 5,000 sq ft Flannels store, another Frasers brand, is also set to open later this month.
The properties have all been acquired at a significant discount to their last traded prices.
Frasers chief executive Michael Murray said: “The acquisition of Princesshay, Fremlin Walk and the Olympus Centre reinforces our commitment to investing in physical retail. Securing properties which serve as the primary retail destination for the community remains a top priority for us.
“Such acquisitions unlock new growth opportunities for our retail concepts, while revitalising high streets and physical shopping locations up and down the country. At Frasers, we strive to re-invent and elevate retail for UK shoppers, bringing the very best brands, environments, and experiences to all our customers across the country.”
Frasers added that with an annual footfall of almost 17m visitors across the three newly-acquired centres, the deals reinforced the group’s focus on expanding its real estate portfolio in the UK, and commitment to investing in high-potential retail properties. Real estate currently accounts for just 1.3% of Frasers’ £5.5bn of annual revenues, but the group is known to be eager to increase this significantly.
In its most recent accounts the group said that property investment remained a key focus for the group, “unlocking occupational demand for our retail business while delivering strong property returns that can be recycled at the appropriate time”.
Prior to these three acquisitions, Frasers’ property portfolio spanned more than 20m sq ft and provided annual revenues of almost £73m. Over the past year, the retailer has spent around £200m on property deals.
Savills advised Nuveen on Princesshay, with Knight Frank and Griffiths Eccles acting for the Crown; CBRE advises Frasers Group.
Photo © Peter MacDiarmid/Rex/Shutterstock
Send feedback to Shifali Gorka
Follow Estates Gazette
