LaSalle Investment Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have put the final asset in their Merlin Fund up for sale.
JLL has been instructed to seek bids in excess of £125m – a 7% yield – for the 650,000 sq ft Broadway shopping centre in Bexleyheath, south-east London. The mall has 67 shops and is anchored by Marks & Spencer.
The pan-European, retail-focused Merlin Fund was launched in 2009 and bought the Broadway shopping centre the same year for £98m – a 7.75% yield.
It began winding down assets earlier this year as it neared the end of its life, selling Borehamwood shopping park in Hertfordshire to TH Real Estate for £107m – a 5% yield.
It has also sold Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham, north Wales, for £76m – a 7.5% yield – to Manchester-based private property company Ventnor.
The winding down of the fund comes as out-of-town shopping centre values are growing at their fastest pace for several years. Figures from CBRE show values rising by 6% in Q3 – the second-steepest increase since 2000.
