Property giant British Land announced this morning that it has acquired a portfolio of seven high-quality retail parks for £441m.
The group acquired the retail parks from Canadian investment giant Brookfield. They have a passing rent of £29.5m and a net initial yield of 6.7 per cent.
The assets are 99 per cent occupied, and all “benefit from a major superstore anchor.”
Assets include Elliott’s Field Shopping Park in Rugby, Central Retail Park in Falkirk and Wellington Retail Park in Waterlooville.
Simon Carter, chief executive said: “The acquisition of this high quality portfolio builds upon our market leading position in retail parks. Parks remain the preferred format for retailers and we have deployed £711m of capital into this subsector since 1 April 2024.
“These assets offer an attractive yield and strong rental growth prospects in line with our guidance of three per cent to five per cent. Combined with the proposed placing, they will be immediately earnings accretive and are expected to deliver double digit ungeared internal rates of return.
“The broader business also continues to trade well with a good level of leasing in the period and cost discipline underpinning our profit performance. We expect portfolio values to be marginally up for the half year, with continued rental growth across the portfolio.”
Alongside the deal, British Land also issued a trading update for the six months to 30 September.
The company said it expected to report an underlying profit of £142m to £144m for the period, compared to £142m reported in the first six months of 2023.
British Land also said it expected to report a positive portfolio value change of 0.2 per cent, led by retail parks (up five per cent).
Throughout the first half, the company acquired £270m of assets and exchanged or completed £407m of disposals.