InfraRed Capital Partners has confirmed its acquisition of the Eastgate shopping centre in Basildon from British Land for £88.6m.
The fund manager is adding the 643,000 sq ft shopping centre, anchored by a 160,000 sq ft Asda supermarket, to its growing shopping centre portfolio.
InfraRed also owns the Galleries in Bristol, the Castle Mall in Norwich, and both St Johns and Clayton Square in Liverpool.
British Land put Eastgate up for sale for £84m, reflecting a yield of around 7.5%.
InfraRed has appointed the Hark Group as asset managers and Munroe K Asset Management as property managers of the Essex mall, which counts Primark, New Look, Next, Debenhams, Topshop, H&M, River Island, and Superdry as tenants.
InfraRed director Chris Huxtable said: “The purchase of Eastgate adds to our growing portfolio of shopping centres acquired since we re-entered this market at the beginning of 2011.
“With Eastgate, we have acquired a dominant town centre asset in the South East noted for its high footfall, affordable rents and strong retailer performance.
“The asset has remained resilient throughout the economic downturn, helped by its location and high quality occupiers. We plan to make further investment into the asset which will be to the benefit of Eastgate’s customers, tenants, and to Basildon as a whole”.
Charles Maudsley, head of retail for British Land, said: “This year we will continue to sell retail assets which do not fit our strategy and reinvest the capital where we see better growth and return potential.”
Cushman & Wakefield and Olswang provided real estate advisory and legal services to InfraRed respectively; Strutt & Parker acted for BL.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
