Rockspring is the frontrunner to buy a Buckinghamshire shopping centre taken over by RBS in the midst of the financial crisis.
The fund manager is close to securing a £46m deal for the 268,611 sq ft Friars Square shopping centre in Aylesbury for its UK Value 2 fund, which targets core opportunities across the UK. The price reflects a 6.75% yield.
RBS has been accelerating sales since January 2014 when it announced it would dispose of £19.3bn of assets by the end of 2016.
Last year it sold £6.7bn of assets from its “bad bank” division, Capital Resolutions Group, and this week it was announced that Helen Gordon, its global head of real estate asset management, would leave at the end of the year as it winds down further.
The bank took control of the mall in 2011 from Multiplex, and appointed Grosvenor Fund Management as asset manager. Multiplex originally paid £90m for the scheme in 2009, with debt from RBS.
The Australian developer, which was taken over by Brookfield in 2008, had planned to redevelop Friars Square in phases.
It secured planning permission for a 15,900 sq ft extension in 2009 but construction came to a standstill later that year as the credit crunch hit.
RBS has since taken forward several development projects at the mall, including a new 7,700 sq ft central pod that has been let to Topshop.
A number of asset management procedures are also under way, including construction of a new entrance and the redevelopment of cloisters space into a 12,000 sq ft Rush Fitness gym.
The mall is anchored by department stores House of Fraser and BHS and produces a total passing rent of £3.8m from leases with an average of 8.7 years to expiry.
It is the second retail purchase from RBS by Rockspring this year. It bought the Orchard Centre in Taunton, Somerset, in January for £27.5m.
