Following three other acquisitions earlier this year – one in St Ives and two in the City of London – with an investment total of £52million, Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI) has acquired a Waitrose store in Crowborough, Sussex, on behalf of West Sussex Pension Fund. CWI was advised by Morgan Williams.
This acquisition provides the fund with a long-term income stream from a national retailer in a strong location, supported by an affluent area. It is in line with West Sussex Pension Fund’s strategy to purchase quality assets with many characteristics of prime investments, without competing with overseas investors for the trophy assets. The fund has deliberately moved away from the weaker secondary market to focus on quality assets which CWI considers mispriced relative to their long term performance potential.
Mickola Wilson, Head of Cushman & Wakefield Investors UK, said: “The fund is primarily a ‘core investment strategy’, which reduces the risk profile of the portfolio, while maintaining the ability to deliver consistent long term returns. These acquisitions represent the first phase of a repositioning of the portfolio to capture the opportunities to secure value, while the eye of the market is on the ‘uber prime’ investment.”