Legal and General, in partnership with Wrenbridge, is under offer to buy the Grafton Centre in Cambridge for around £100m – a 5.5% yield – and more than £7.5m above the original asking price.
The UK fund manager outbid Rockspring and Orchard Street, who were both interested in M&G’s 500,000 sq ft scheme.
It is one of the largest shopping malls to hit the market this year, and is anchored by Debenhams and an eight-screen Vue Cinema, which Orchard Street bought in a separate £9.6m transaction earlier this year.
The sale comes after years of stalled development plans, the first of which emerged when Prupim bought the centre in 1997. The latest plans for a £15m refurbishment were in 2009, yet final plans were never made.
Strutt & Parker advised L&G and Wrenbridge
