Henderson Global Investors has acquired a portfolio of Designer Outlet Schemes for £365m from a consortium of institutions including AXA, BP Pension Fund and Morley. CB Richard Ellis acted on behalf of this group.

The opportunity was presented to acquire three market leading Designer Outlet Centres in prime locations across the UK adjacent to national motorway networks. The investors sold the A1 consented retail space for a 6.8% net initial yield.

Situated in Cheshire Oaks, Swindon and Bridgend, the portfolio comprises 340 retail units, with a net lettable floor area of 782,500ft² and 7,050 car parking spaces. Cheshire Oaks is the largest outlet centre in the UK covering 328,000ft² and Bridgend is the largest in Wales at 240,500ft². Tenants across the portfolio include a mixture of high-street and high-end retailers, such as John Lewis; Marks & Spencer; Next; Burberry; Jaeger and Ralph Lauren.

Greg Nicholson, Executive Director, Capital Markets, CBRE commented, ‘Robust, forensic due diligence prior to sale, and a first class financial model enabled first round bids to deliver four fully funded proposals in one of the most challenging property markets of recent times.’

At the time of purchase, all three properties were maturing and held considerable asset management potential. This is the first time that the assets have been offered to the market, the portfolio having been developed and managed by McArthurGlen over the past ten years. Hendersons’ acquisition was backed by a pan-European syndicate of financial institutions including BNP Paribas; Allianz and The Dutch Metalworkers Pension Fund.

http://www.cbre.co.uk, 18.09.2008