Hammerson has acquired four prominent retail parks in strong catchment areas. The total floor area of the acquired assets is 100,000 m², with occupancy of 98%. Average rents of the acquired assets, the majority of which (68% by area) have open A1 planning consent, are £18 per ft². The assets have an average unexpired lease term of 11 years, and an average capital value of £230 (approx. 282) per ft².
The principal assets to be acquired are:
Thurrock Shopping Park, Lakeside. Thurrock Shopping Park is situated next to Junction 31 of the M25 and Lakeside shopping center. There is a strong consumer catchment of 877,000 people within a 20 minute drive, and together with the adjoining Lakeside shopping center and Lakeside Retail Park it forms a regional destination which is one of the largest dedicated shopping areas in Europe. Comprised of Lakeside Extra, Lakeside Tunnel and a large development site, current passing rent is £5 million (approx. 6 million), with average rents of £19 (approx. 23) per ft².
Lakeside Extra has a Gross Leasable Area (GLA) of 14,000 m², and includes Boots, TK Maxx, Gap and ASDA Living. Lakeside Tunnel includes Decathlon, Halfords and Pets at Home in 8,500 m² of accommodation. Both have unrestricted open A1 non-food consent.
There is an additional 6 ha (16 acre) development site included in the acquisition, which is allocated for retail and residential use.
Forge Shopping Park, Telford. The scheme is situated to the west of Telford town center, with a catchment population of 260,000 within a 20 minute drive. The Forge is Telford's primary shopping park and comprises 29,000 m² of open A1 retail floor space, anchored by a 6,000 m² Sainsbury's, which is the principal foodstore in Telford. With 20 tenants including Next, Outfit, Boots, Gap, Currys and TK Maxx, Forge Shopping Park has a current passing rent of £5 million per annum and average rents of £21 per square foot.
Imperial Retail Park, Bristol. Situated two miles south of Bristol city center, over 468,000 people live within a 20 minute drive of Imperial Retail Park. The 32,000 m² scheme is anchored by a 10,000 m² B&Q, and includes brands such as Next, Boots and HomeSense. Current passing rents are £5 million per annum, and average rents are £15 (approx. 18.4) per ft².
The scheme also includes a cleared development site of 5 ha (14 acres) with planning resolution for a mixed use scheme.
Abbotsinch Retail Park, Glasgow. Abbotsinch Retail Park is adjacent to Junction 27 of the M8 motorway to the west of Glasgow. The catchment population is 665,000 within a 20 minute drive. The 16,000 m² park is anchored by a 9,000 m² B&Q alongside Comet, DFS, Pets at Home, Harveys and Frankie & Benny's. The scheme has passing rent of £3 (approx. 3.6) million per annum, with average rents of £18 (approx. 22) per square foot.
The scheme also includes a development site with planning consent of 6,000 m², providing the opportunity to develop an additional retail terrace and a standalone food store.
Oldbury Shopping Park Development. In addition to the assets above, the acquisition includes approximately 6 ha (16 acres) of a development site adjacent to Oldbury town center, approximately 1 mile from Junction 2 of the M5 motorway. Planning consent exists on the site and adjoining properties for a development, including a retail park of up to 16,000 m², with consented mezzanines of 12,000 m², giving a total GLA of 27,000 m².
The purchase price for the Trust is £254.5 million (approx. 312 million), which represents a 5% discount to the gross fund valuation of £267 million (approx. 327 million) at September 30, 2012. Hammerson will also commit capital expenditure of circa £5 million to complete certain asset management projects. The consideration will be paid in cash from existing facilities.
Passing rents on the properties are £18 million per annum and after taking into account purchase costs the yield on the purchase p
