Member Article

LXB Retail Properties completes IKEA acquisition

LXB Retail Properties has announced that a number of contracts have been concluded, which will significantly reshape the group’s investments at Greenwich.

The Jersey resident closed-ended real estate investment company has facilitated the acquisition of the former Sainsbury’s building at Charlton Riverside Place on the Greenwich Peninsula.

In May 2011, the group agreed to buy the retailer’s existing store at Greenwich Peninsula for £16m plus costs once the new premises were open for trading and the old store had been stripped out.

In December 2013, LBX reached agreement with IKEA whereby, subject to satisfaction of a number of conditions, IKEA would acquire the former Sainsbury’s and the adjoining former Comet store.

The first phase of the contract with IKEA completed on 11 September 2015 and the second stage, IKEA’s acquisition of the former Sainsbury’s, is expected to complete on 18 September 2015.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich sees these new retail investments as a “key component” in delivering its Charlton Riverside Area Action Plan to regenerate this part of South East London. As well as new retail space, the plan includes development of 6,000 new residential units, transforming the area into an attractive and vibrant mixed use urban quarter.

This regeneration project, together with the recently announced proposals for 15,000 new homes on the Greenwich Peninsula will provide a strong local customer base for retailers and bodes well for the Group’s Brocklebank Retail Park investment which is located in the heart of the Charlton Riverside Area Action Plan area.

Tim Walton, CEO of LXB Adviser LLP, said: “I am delighted that the Group is able to announce these transactions. IKEA’s decision to come to the Greenwich Peninsula and the anticipated impact on customer footfall is very good news for other retail investments in the area, including Brocklebank Retail Park.

“IKEA has invested £40m just to acquire the site and we believe that it will be rapidly developing its new store.

“The B&Q directly alongside the new IKEA occupies a truly prime location in South East London and offers potential for significant capital growth in the medium term, as well as an attractive yield in the intervening period. These transactions deliver exceptional value for investors.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .