Aviva Investors has brought a seven-strong portfolio of retail warehouses to the market in a bid to tap into pent-up investor demand.
The fund manager is selling the Diamond Portfolio for £88m – a 7.5% yield. It totals 500,000 sq ft and comprises shopping park in Basildon, Essex, retail park in Blyth, Northumberland, a Homebase in Dover, Kent, the Peel Centre in ?Dumfries, a Sainsbury’s in Hanley, Staffordshire, a Hobbycraft and Matalan in Northampton and the retail park in Lincolnshire.
All the parks have open A1 consent.
The fund manager is ?understood to be selling the assets to address an overweight position of retail warehousing in the Aviva Investors ?pensions Fund. “There is a lot ?of pent-up investor demand in the retail warehouse market,” ?said one agent. “Aviva has ?decided to get the portfolio out early before everyone else ?brings out stock. It will attract interest from lots of opportunity fund buyers such as Blackstone, KKR and Pradera.”
Some £884m of retail parks were sold in the first half of 2013 – a 153% rise on the same period last year.
Savills and Wilkinson ?Williams are advising on the sale.
Annabel.Dixon@estatesgazette.com
