Hermes has put its 7.5% interest in Bluewater shopping centre in Kent up for sale for £167m, reflecting a yield of 3.8%.
It has appointed niche retail agency HP4 to market the stake which, as one of Bluewater’s principal owners, includes a seat at the board table of the 1.6m sq ft shopping centre.
Hermes’ asking price values Bluewater at just above £2.2bn – a 5.1% increase on the valuation by co-owner Lendlease in March. Last year the shopping centre’s gross rent-roll was £95m.
Hermes has been one of the principal owners of Bluewater since it opened in 1999, but is looking to sell its stake as part of an ongoing portfolio management process.
The opportunity is likely to appeal to sovereign wealth funds, overseas investors or existing stakeholders looking to extend their share.
Hermes originally bought a 10% stake to help fund the development of the shopping centre, but in 2006 it sold a quarter of its holding to Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, now Aberdeen Asset Management, which still holds a 2.5% interest.
Last year investment in UK shopping centres totalled £3bn, 30.2% lower than 2015’s total, according to Savills. It was also a 25% drop from the long-term average of £4bn.
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