The Crown Estate has established a joint venture with Chinese sovereign wealth fund Ginko Tree Investment to buy premier retail park Fosse Park .
The £345.5m purchase of the 560,000 sq ft Leicester shopping park from Abbey Group and Foyleside Group completed this week.
Both partners will take a 50% stake in the park through an English limited partnership, with Crown managing the asset.
Paul Clark, director of investment at the Crown, said: “Our critical mass and specialist skills in the retail park sector have been key in helping us secure this landmark partnership, which brings our total third party funds managed in joint ventures to over £1bn and further strengthens our ability to invest across our core sectors.”
Fosse Park attracts over 8m shoppers a year and is one of the largest in the UK. Current tenants include M&S, GAP, New Look, Clarks, Boots, Next, River Island, Argos, DFS, Thorntons and Costa Coffee.
The acquisition is the largest in the Crown’s history and takes the value of its retail portfolio to more than £1.2bn.
James Cooksey, head of the Crown’s regional portfolio, said: “Fosse Shopping Park is one of the best assets of its kind, combining a prime location, with both scale and opportunities to enhance performance through active management. At Fosse Park we intend to bring the same vision and progressive approach to management as we are known for across our regional retail holdings and in London’s West End.”
The purchase comes in the same week as the Crown splashed £380m on a majority stake in the Pollen Estate, a prime Mayfair landholding. It teamed up with partner Norges Bank Investment Management for that acquisition.
Wilkinson Williams and BNP Paribas Real Estate advised the Crown on Fosse; CBRE advised on Pollen; Savills acted for Abbey/Foyleside and JLL represented Pollen vendor the Church Commissioners.
samantha.mcclary@estatesgazette.com
