Asif Aziz’s Criterion Capital has sold its leasehold interest in the St Nicholas Centre in Sutton, south London, for £71.6m.
The mall has been sold to AEW Europe at a price that reflects 6.5% yield.
The 434,504 sq ft centre includes 67 retail units as well as a multi-screen cinema and is anchored by Debenhams, New Look, Next, Primark and Sports Direct. It has an annual rent roll of £6.9m with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 5.8 years.
Criterion bought the St Nicholas Centre in 2005 for £77.7m from GE Capital. The latest sale is part of Criterion’s refocusing of its portfolio on the residential build-to-rent sector. It currently has a pipeline of more than 5,000 homes which will be completed by the end of 2016 and operated under its Miflats management platform
Karl Elliot, head of shopping centres at Criterion Capital, said: “With the current appetite for investment in shopping centres, it was an opportune time for us to go to the market. A competitive bidding process followed and we have achieved a price that unlocks further resource to be deployed on our growing build-to-rent residential development pipeline.”
Michael Elliott advised Criterion alongside Savills; Strutt & Parker and Tudor Toone advised AEW.
david.hatcher@estatesgazette.com
