The Lothbury Property Trust is closing in on a 70,000 sq ft retail scheme in the South East.
The £350m property trust is bidding for Sainsbury’s London Colney retail park scheme, in what would be the first major transaction for Lothbury’s asset managers since they broke away from CBRE Investors to join Irish asset manager KBC in February.
Lothbury took its business to KBC when chief executive Simon Radford and director Tim Legge transferred.
Universities Superannuation Scheme, advised by Jones Lang LaSalle, is also vying for the park project, which is part of Sainsbury’s strategy to develop independent strip malls on unused parts of supermarket sites.
The London Colney scheme lies opposite a 111,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s and a 116,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store.
Sainsbury’s is to pre-sell the mall for £60m, an initial yield of 4.3%.
It has open A1 consent and has prelet to Next, Borders and Sports World, with rents starting at £45 per sq ft.
Ashworth Sibal Welch is advising Sainsbury’s.
References: EGi News 12/07/04
