Kingston’s Bentall Centre up for grabs with £200m-plus price tag
Bentall shopping centre in Kingston upon Thames has been put up for sale after one of its owners appointed advisers to sell its 50 per cent stake, with a price-tag of around £200m.
It is one of the busiest malls in Greater London, with 700,000 square feet of space and 14m visitors a year from the affluent catchment area.
It is anchored by the Bentalls department store and houses more than 80 retailers, including Apple, Zara and Superdry.
Meyer Bergman, which owns half of Bentall alongside Aviva Investors, have put their stake on the market this month after appointing CBRE and US firm Eastdil Secured as sale advisers this summer.
Initial expressions of interest are due within weeks, with a sale expected to be completed before the end of the year, City A.M. understands.
Shopping centres have been caught up in a whirlwind of activity, with more than £3.45bn in deals completed during the year to date, according to recent data from DTZ.
The property adviser expects transaction volumes for the year overall to beat the £4.45bn recorded in 2013, which itself was ahead of the long-term annual average of £3.65bn since 2000.
The prospect of owning a stake in one of the capital’s major retail hubs is likely to attract interest from overseas buyers as well as some of the UK’s leading property players.
Aviva sold half of its stake for £130m in 2010 to Meyer Bergman. The pair spent £3.2m expanding the shopping centre last year, with Apple and Superdry both taking extra space.