LXB Retail agrees Kent deal to help Pep & Co's rapid expansion

19th Jan 2016 10:55

(ShareCast News) - Jersey-based real estate investment company LXB Retail Properties said it had exchanged contracts with South African retail group Pep & Co to let a 10,000 sq ft unit at Neats Court retail park on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.Pep & Co, a new entrant to the UK retail market run by ex-Asda chief executive Andy Bond and backed by South African billionaire Chriso Wiese, has acquired about 50 stores across the country in the past 12 months.LXB, which focuses on edge of town and out of town retail assets, said the letting is subject to certain planning and other obligations which are expected to be satisfied in the first quarter of 2016.Following the completion of this letting, the group will have a final unit of 5,000 sq ft of completed floorspace remaining and a pre-let with a national retailer is in solicitors' hands for this unit, LXB added.Neats Court is a 20 acre freehold development site forming part of a wider mixed-use regeneration scheme.