M&G Real Estate has acquired The Crown Estate’s 50 per cent stake in Fort Kinnaird retail centre in Edinburgh. The investment into the £334.5 million asset has created a new joint venture with Hercules Unit Trust (HUT). British Land owns 78% of HUT and is the property advisor of the 560,000 sq ft asset.
Fort Kinnaird is a retail and leisure destination on the outskirts of Edinburgh with a catchment of more than 800,000 people and an estimated annual footfall of 14 million.
The centre is anchored by M&S, Primark, Next and Odeon cinema. Over 85,000 sq ft of store openings and lettings have been achieved recently at Fort Kinnaird including JD Sports, Office, Swarovski, Skechers, Pure Gym and Wagamama.
As a leading European business hub, Edinburgh continues to reinforce its growing importance as a focal point for the local and national economy. It is the second most popular city in the UK for tourism and conferences, corporate and visitor spending alike will continue to form a significant part of the city’s economy.
John Duxbury, Head of Retail at M&G Real Estate, comments: “Our partnership at Fort Kinnaird underlines our commitment to prime retail, which continues to prove resilient to competition from e-commerce and reflects our strategy of investing in secure assets with long term prospects for income and capital appreciation.
“We are very pleased to partner with HUT and British Land, as we continue to align our investments with other experts in their field.”
Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail, Leisure & Residential, British Land commented: “We have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with The Crown Estate and together have made Fort Kinnaird a great place for people in Edinburgh to shop, be entertained, dine out and relax. Having secured such fantastic retail and leisure brands for the centre, Fort Kinnaird has an exciting future and we’re delighted that M&G Real Estate will be joining us to further evolve the centre.”
Knight Frank represented M&G Real Estate, and CBRE and Griffiths Eccles represented The Crown Estate.