British Land increases Basildon bond

22nd Mar 2011 09:45

It's a case of "hello Basildon, goodbye Croydon" for property company British Land , which has bought the Mayflower Retail Park on the edge of Basildon for £51m and sold Valley Leisure Park, Croydon, for £28m, in a deal with Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.The Basildon retail park is being bought at a price that represents a net initial yield of 6.3%, rising to 6.9% should the park's one vacant unit find a lessee. The sale price of Valley Leisure Park represents a net initial yield of 7.1%. The park was acquired by British Land in 2000 for £21m.The park comprises 11 retail units totalling 153,000 square feet serving a catchment population of over 300,000 people. Current retailers on the park include Homebase, Currys, Harveys, Mothercare and Next. The park is also situated adjacent to a Tesco superstore. "Mayflower is a popular trading location where rents are affordable and retailers trade well. By refreshing and modernising the park we believe there are significant opportunities to attract new retailers to the scheme and grow rents. Along with Eastgate Shopping Centre in the heart of Basildon, we now own the town's two most dominant retail assets where we anticipate future growth," said Charles Maudsley, head of Retail at British Land.Valley Leisure Park comprises 135,000 square feet of predominantly leisure accommodation, with the main attraction being an eight screen cinema.