UK Commercial Property Trust Limited (UKCPT), which is advised by Standard Life Investments and owns a diversified portfolio of high-quality income-producing UK commercial property, has completed the sale of its three retail centres in Shrewsbury town centre to Shropshire Council for approximately €58.6m (£51m), representing a small premium to book value.
The three assets comprise the Charles Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside shopping centres which are located at the heart of Shrewsbury's town centre and provide around 428,400 ft²of retail and leisure space in total.
Will Fulton, Fund Manager at Standard Life Investments, said:'The sale of these three centres is in line with our previously stated strategy of reducing our portfolio's weighting towards retail. Furthermore, the sale provides us with additional financial resources which we intend to recycle into other investment opportunities that fit with the Company's investment strategy. We have been discussing long-term options for these centres with Shropshire Council for a while which ultimately led to negotiations around the Council acquiring them and managing them going forward. We believe that this is a very satisfactory outcome for both parties and for the future of the centres.'
JLL acted for UKCPT, while Montagu Evans acted for Shropshire Council.
