Eurofund Group, the international real estate investment and development company behind numerous successful projects in continental Europe, has, in a joint venture with private equity real estate firm Henderson Park, completed the purchase of Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow. The deal to acquire the 100,000 sqm flagship centre is an off-market transaction from Hammerson and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for £140 million. Eurofund Group is the operating partner in the JV and has also co-invested alongside Henderson Park.
Located in Pollok, a wealthy suburb of the UK’s fifth largest city, Silverburn is Glasgow’s newest and highest quality shopping centre with an affluent catchment area of 2.1m people. The centre, which first opened in 2007, benefits from strong transport links, with a major bus terminal located on site, and has historically generated consistently high footfall of c.15 million. per annum. Silverburn consists of 125 grocery, retail and leisure units with brands such as Next, Marks & Spencer and TK Maxx. The centre also welcomed a leisure extension in 2015, which added a 14-screen Cineworld and 11 restaurants including Pizza Express, Five Guys and TGI Fridays. The Top 20 UK shopping centre sits on a 67-acre freehold site, which includes 4,500 car parking spaces and the largest Tesco in Scotland, under a long leasehold interest. It benefits from a strong catchment area, with Glasgow consistently ranked as the number two retail destination in the UK, which presents significant opportunity for value uplift through letting activity.
Ian Sandford, President, commented: “We are pleased to have had to opportunity to co-invest in Silverburn along with our JV partners at Henderson Park. Silverburn represents a fantastic opportunity to take a good centre and transform it into the leading asset in its catchment. Eurofund’s vision is to utilise our team’s strong asset management and operational expertise to unlock latent value and reposition Silverburn as the leading retail, leisure and F&B destination in Scotland.”
Alberto Esguevillas, Chief Executive Officer UK, added: “Scotland represents a particularly strong retail opportunity in the UK, with Glasgow recently being named one of the two most resilient retail destinations in the country. This is demonstrated in the strong interest we are seeing from retailers and brands wanting to expand or establish a presence in Silverburn.”
The joint venture was advised on this transaction by BCLP, Brodies, Alvarez & Marsal and Time Retail Partners.