Slough: Benson Elliot buys SLI's retail park

Benson Elliot, the private-equity real-estate fund manager, has exchanged contracts to buy Slough Retail Park from Standard Life Investments for £53 million.

Originally developed in 1988, the shopping park covers 173,000 sq ft, and is home to nine retailers including Carpetright, DFS and Smyths Toys Superstores. It was acquired by SLI in 2014 from Threadneedle for £63m, reflecting a 5.25% yield and is now being sold to Benson Elliot, on behalf of clients, at a price which reflects a 6.25% yield.

The retail park was one of the top holdings in Standard Life’s £2.7 billion UK real-estate fund, which was reopened on October 17 after there was an unprecedented level of redemption requests in the wake of the Brexit vote, which prompted several funds to suspend trading.

Benson Elliot, founded in 2005 by former Goldman Sachs banker Marc Mogull, is a pan-European private-equity firm investing in key markets across Europe. The firm closed its third fund BEREP IV, in June this year, raising more than €700m for the vehicle.

The firm owns several in-town shopping schemes, but Slough Retail Park is thought to be one of its first acquisitions in the UK retail-warehouse sector this cycle.

Other UK assets include The Mander Centre, a 617,250 sq ft in-town shopping centre in Wolverhampton, Vicarage Field, a retail complex in Barking, and the 222,725 sq ft Quedam shopping centre in Yeovil.

This is the latest retail warehouse to exchange this month, following the British Airways Pension Fund's acquisition of Hayes Bridge for £39m from Henderson Global Investors and ARES’ purchase of Castle Vale Retail Park in Birmingham from M&G for £58.4m.

Cushman & Wakefield acted for Benson Elliot and Morgan Williams advised SLI. Cube Real Estate also advised Benson Elliott in their role as an asset manager. 

Credit: CoStar