Gowling WLG's real estate team has advised a fund advised by Brockton Capital on the corporate sale of its portfolio of nine retail parks to the independent real estate investment management boutique, Tristan Capital Partners.
The sale of the corporate entities, which include Foundry Retail Park in Rotherham, Warrington Riverside Retail Park and Cardiff Gate Retail Park, has been completed in a deal worth c. £250 million. Sally Pinkerton, Gowling WLG's head of international real estate and Matt Walker, director, led the matter which completed on 8 March 2017.
Brockton started acquiring the parks in 2011. Over the last five years, Gowling WLG has advised on the acquisition of five of the parks as well as two standalone DFS units and has helped Brockton Capital implement asset enhancement initiatives on the parks. This includes adding a significant new development at Cardiff Gate Retail Park, which saw an additional five units become available, as well as two new pods.
Other assets in the portfolio include retail parks in Birmingham, Walsall, Warrington, Milton Keynes, Bolton and Bangor in Northern Ireland. The deal saw Gowling WLG's real estate team collaborate with both its corporate and construction teams in the UK.
Sally Pinkerton commented: "The deal is certainly significant as it's the first out-of-town retail park portfolio of this size and nature to come to market. We are delighted to have assisted Brockton Capital from acquisition through to disposal and ensure that their investors capitalised on the investment and hard work over the last five years."
Sally Pinkerton was supported by Matt Walker (director, Real Estate), Gemma Baker (associate, Real Estate), Helen Monro (senior associate, Real Estate) and Helen Price (senior associate, Real Estate), as well as Corporate partner David Vaughan, Mark Stephenson (director, Construction) and Ashley Yarwood (associate, Construction).