Northern Irish entrepreneur, John B McGuckian, has bought The Avenue shopping centre in south Glasgow from Schroeder and Sovereign Land for £70m.
The purchase of the 178,000 sq ft centre in Newton Mearns was made through his Milestone investment trust and achieved an initial yield of 4.75%.
The vendors received seven bids over the asking price of £67m for the investment, which was previously part of the Schroeder Exempt PUT.
The deal puts the total value of Scottish shopping centres sold in 2006 at approximately £1.5bn, over double the previous year’s total.
John Hamilton, head of Cushman & Wakefield, who acted for the vendors said: “Our clients are very pleased with the price achieved and I believe the purchaser has acquired a centre with substantial asset management and development potential.”
He added that the rash of recent centre sales was due to investors taking profit before yield compression stops.
He stated: “The people who are buying centres at the moment will hold and work the asset even harder than previous owners.”
Hamilton Glen acted jointly for the vendor. Milestone was represented by BTW Shiells.
References: EGi News 18/10/06
