Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and Henderson Global Investors, the joint managers of the Covent Garden Market Limited Partnership have sold all the Fund's assets to Capital and Counties for over €580 million (£420 million).
The assets comprise 31 properties totalling over 450,000 ft² predominantly focused on the central Piazza. The properties include Covent Garden Market itself as well as the London Transport Museum and Jubilee Hall.
The Fund was established in July 2000 with the purchase of Covent Garden Market and substantially enlarged in April 2002. During this period the partnership has significantly redeveloped the area, including buildings in Henrietta Street, King Street, James Street and parts of the iconic Piazza, making it one of London's biggest tourist attractions.
A spokesperson for the Covent garden Market Limited Partnership said: "At the beginning of this year we felt that such was the level of demand from both UK and overseas investors for quality assets such as Covent Garden Market that we could obtain a premium price. Though there is clearly a lot of potential in the area we felt the time was right for us to realise our investment and sell the properties. We therefore agreed a focused sales strategy with Joiner Cummings to achieve this aim. This has been successful and has crystallised excellent returns for our investors."
Source: Henderson
