M&G Real Estate, part of the UK’s M&G Investments, and Aberdeen Asset Management have formed a joint venture and bought a shopping centre in Surrey, UK.
The two asset managers have created a new fund structure, known as The Two Rivers Limited Partnership, which owns a 100% interest in the Two Rivers Shopping Park in Staines-upon-Thames. Each manager owns 50%.
The fund has a value in excess of £210 million (€253 million) and is invested on behalf of M&G Real Estate and Aberdeen Asset Management internal clients.
Two Rivers is a 380,000 square feet prime retail and leisure scheme that occupies an edge-of-town-centre location and is anchored by national retailers including Waitrose, Boots and Next along with Vue cinemas.
Aberdeen will continue to manage the asset, as it has done since the Two Rivers scheme was developed in 2001.
Simon Moscow, fund management director at Aberdeen Asset Management, says: “Two Rivers Shopping Park has consistently outperformed its benchmark since opening in 2001…
“Exposure to prime assets such as The Two Rivers Shopping Park is extremely valuable and we intend to further enhance that value with asset management initiatives going forward.”
Peter Langly-Smith, of M&G Real Estate, says: “We are very pleased to have gained exposure to this dominant shopping park. Opportunities to invest in hybrid assets of this scale and nature are rare, and reflect our desire to invest in properties that are well placed to outperform against a backdrop of an ever-changing retail landscape. M&G Real Estate still has further capital to invest.”
M&G Real Estate is owned by Prudential, an insurance company, and has £17 billion invested in properties across Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region.
Aberdeen is an independent asset management company and part of the FTSE 100, with assets of around £200 billion, including £15 billion invested in property.
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