An off-market £75m sale by Helical Bar is poised to take investments in the UK retail property market to more than £500m this month.
Europa Capital and Sovereign Land have teamed up to buy 740,000 sq ft Northamptonshire retail scheme Willow Place and Corby town centre (pictured) from Helical Bar.
The circa £75m deal reflects a yield of around 7.5%.
The shopping centre comprises 146 shops and attracts more than 160,000 visitors a week. Plans are in place to add a further 20,000 sq ft by 2016.
The deal comes four years after Helical Bar bought the scheme from Land Securities for £70m – an 8% yield.
An industry source said: “Corby is a good-looking, big town centre scheme and there is not much competition nearby. This is a good deal and Sovereign Land will have the development potential to extend it.”
The deal is the latest in a flurry of retail property sales so far in January totalling more than £425m.
Deals include Threadneedle Investments paying £60m for the 166,378 sq ft Staples Corner retail park in Cricklewood, NW2, and CBRE Global Investors buying the 376,449 sq ft Ashley Centre in Epsom, Surrey for £78m.
According to CBRE, £5.6bn of UK shopping centre transactions were completed in 2014, an increase of 33% on the £4.2bn transacted in 2013 and above the 10-year average of £4bn.
Savills is advising Europa Capital and Sovereign Land.
