Hammerson has completed sale of Silverburn shopping centre for £140m

Silverburn shopping centre has been sold for £140m to London-based European private equity real estate firm Henderson Park in an off-market transaction.

Last month retail property giant Hammerson in a joint venture with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was first known to have been in talks over the sale of the 1.1 million sq ft Silverburn shopping centre, which is located near Glasgow.

Henderson Park’s acquisition was undertaken alongside Eurofund, its operating partner.

The shopping centre originally opened in 2007 and currently consists of 125 grocery, retail and leisure units including Next, Marks & Spencer and TK Maxx.

The centre is currently 78% physically occupied and rent collection from the remaining tenants has been strong standing at 92% for Q3 2021.

Christophe Kuhbier, Managing Director of Henderson Park, commented: “Silverburn with its large catchment area close to one of the U.K.’s largest cities has limited direct competition and posted robust footfall levels and cash collection this year.

“With retail valuations under pressure in recent years, we have been monitoring the UK prime retail market and we see here an excellent opportunity to acquire this asset off-market and invest in a modern asset with immediate upside potential. Alongside our specialist operating partner Eurofund, our asset management plan aims at attracting new occupiers that focus on leisure, food and beverage and experiential retail sectors, completing the repositioning of the asset as a premier retail and leisure destination.

“We look forward to investing targeted capital expenditure to maximise the potential of this asset and delivering strong returns to our investors.”

Ian Sandford, Chairman Eurofund Group, added: “We are excited by this opportunity to unlock latent value from this exceptional Top 20 UK shopping centre asset which has to date been underperforming. We aim to use our team’s asset management and operational expertise to bring the shopping resort concept and return Silverburn to the offering and performance levels the people of Glasgow deserve and to help it exceed its potential.”