Hunter Real Estate Investment Management has completed the first acquisitions in its Hunter UK Retail Trust since launching the fund over the summer. The purchases comprise three high street assets in Norwich, Ipswich and Edinburgh, totalling £14,162,500 (€20,040,000).
The acquisitions are in line with the closed-end vehicle’s strategy to invest in blocks of underutilised assets situated in desirable high street-led locations across the UK. This includes assets in thriving town centres catering to affluent, upper quartile catchment areas with strong retail and leisure offerings.
In keeping with this focus, three high street units comprising 54,097 ft² (5,025 m²) have been purchased in Norwich for £10.68m (€15.1m). The assets, which provide significant opportunities for proactive asset management, have been acquired from a private investor. The fund has also acquired two units in Ipswich town centre totalling 5,478 ft² for £2,137,500 (€3,025,320) and a 777 ft² (72 m²) unit in Frederick Street, in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, for £1.34m (€1.9m).
Andrew Moffat, Fund Manager at Hunter said: “These first deals signal a strong start to deploying the significant capital available for acquisitional activity within the Hunter UK Retail Trust fund. The purchases provide excellent opportunities for proactive asset management and our selective ‘deal by deal’ approach will continue to ensure we source the best assets for the fund. We expect to follow this announcement with our next acquisitions in the near future.”
Drawing on Hunter’s track record of investing in retail opportunities with asset management potential, the Hunter UK Retail Trust fund has been seeded with £64m (€90.6m) of investment from key investor Aviva Multi Manager, following significant demand from its client base. This will be supplemented with a conservative level of debt, taking projected gross assets to over £100m (€141.5m). Hunter is anticipating returns of around 10% for the Hunter UK Retail Trust reflecting the fund’s unique sector specialism.
