OVERSEAS INVESTMENTS:A NORTHERN Ireland investment company has bought a top class shopping centre in Surrey for £115 million (€145.37 million) in a deal which will show a net initial yield of 5.8 per cent.
The off-market transaction was handled by Domhnaill O'Sullivan of Savills HOK.
The 15-year-old Peacocks centre at Woking, about 20 miles south of London, was developed and owned by British Land. Bank of Ireland funded the deal for Moyallen Holdings Ltd, a company controlled by the Robinson family, who also own the highly successful Rushmere shopping centre in Craigavon.
The Woking centre has around 40,876sq m (440,000sq ft) of lettable space under one of the largest glass roofed atriums in the UK. There are 72 retailers, including five anchors, along with six cinemas and two theatres.
The tenant line-up is particularly strong and includes Debenhams, Marks Spencer, Primark, TK Maxx, Waterstones, Monsoon, River Island, New Look and La Senza.
Moyallen believes that there is considerable scope for improving the centre and for enhancing the retail offer within Woking which is one of the top 20 most affluent towns in the UK.
Shopping specialists CACI recently reported that Woking was the sixth most "credit crunch resistant" retail destinations in Britain. The surrounding catchment area has a population of 661,000.
