The Metro Shopping Fund, the 50/50 London retail joint venture between Land Securities Group PLC and Delancey announces the acquisition of the Southside, Wandsworth, London SW18 from Wandsworth LP, a joint venture between Portfolio Holdings, Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Deutsche Bank Real Estate's Global Opportunities Fund for £188m. The purchase price reflects an equivalent yield of 5.75%.
Southside comprises a 530,000 ft² (49,237 m²) shopping center incorporating retail, leisure, and office accommodation, with five residential blocks above, and an adjoining 1,180 multi-storey car park. The wide ranging retail offer includes Waitrose, Next, H&M, Primark and HMV, a 14 screen cinema let to Cineworld and a Virgin Active healthclub.
The purchase of Southside represents the first acquisition by Metro since its formation in June 2004 taking the total size of the fund to over £0.5bn and the total square footage of the Fund's assets to nearly 1 million ft² (92,900 m²) across five London retail assets. The other assets owned by Metro are Shopstop @ Clapham Junction, N1 Islington, Victoria Place, SW1 and Notting Hill Gate W11.
Commenting on behalf of the Metro Shopping Fund, Anna-Louise Lancaster said: "This is a significant purchase for the Metro Shopping Fund and is consistent with the Fund's strategy to acquire and manage assets which provide extensive opportunities for growth.
"Across the Metro portfolio we are working to capitalise on Delancey's and Land Securities' expertise in the London market to develop a tenant profile which matches the requirements of the center's customers and thereby maximising the performance of the asset."
Tim Haden-Scott added: "The purchase of Southside provides the Metro Shopping Fund with the critical mass which is so important to maximise opportunities for our tenants and fully exploit the synergies across the portfolio.
"We are continuing to pursue opportunities to grow the Fund further through new purchases or through the addition of third party investors with the aim of building it to a value of over £1 billion."
Metro has acquired Southside at an important phase in the center's evolution. It is part way through a programme of redevelopment and improvement which will transform the center into a major south west London shopping and leisure destination. Southside has already experienced a noticeable makeover in recent years by the arrival of a large number of new retailers spearheaded by Waitrose. Metro's approach to the next phase will be to further enhance the environment by focusing on a closer alignment of the retail offer to the surrounding affluent catchment. Metro will also target an improvement to the physical environment of the center, creating an outward looking centre that integrates with the local high street and surrounding area.
The Metro Shopping Fund was advised by Dalgleish and Angermann Goddard & Lloyd. Strutt & Parker acted on behalf of the vendor.
Source: Delancey
