Bangor's springhill retail park has been sold for close to £11 million to London-based Brockton Pradera retail, a joint venture fund between Brockton Capital and Pradera.
The 160,000 sq ft site was purchased from an entity controlled by Apollo Global Management LLC (who acquired the interest as part of Project Lane from Lloyds Banking group) after the original developer went into receivership. springhill was built in 2008 and comprises 12 units, which total 63,189 sq ft at ground level with an additional 38,127 sq ft of mezzanine space. The scheme hosts a flagship Tesco as well as a number of mainstream high-street retailers including next and new Look. It also includes a community block consisting of four units totalling 16,630 sq ft, which includes a doctor's surgery and chemist. The fund will be overseeing the final completions of the scheme as well as securing tenants for the remaining empty units. Brockton Pradera retail LLP was represented by Tughans, which earlier this month was involved in the legals for the £23.5m acquisition of one of the largest Tesco stores in the north at Craigavon. a spokesman for Brockton Pradera retail said: "We're excited about the acquisition of springhill, which is a valuable asset to list within our portfolio. "The well-located site ticked all the right boxes, and this purchase is a sign of our confidence in the northern Ireland marketplace." Phyllis Agnew, head of real estate at Tughans in Belfast, who acted on behalf of the purchasers, said: "This is further evidence that the major UK funds and investors are back in the market for prime investment opportunities and northern Ireland is able to provide the opportunities these investors are looking for." Meanwhile property firm Valto, which is owned by two of the north's richest brothers, the Jennings', has sold off two of its main assets - including saint anne's square in Belfast - and has gone into administration, with BDO appointed to run the business. Valto has transferred St Anne's square into the Ducales group, the principal shareholder of which is shamus Jennings. St Anne's square is a multi-purpose complex, fully occupied, comprising restaurants like Coppi and the Potted Hen, as well as office accommodation, apartments, a multi-storey car park and the Ramada Encore Hotel. And Beacon House, which offers prime office space in Clarendon Dock, has been sold by Valto to Glenmayne Limited, a company controlled by the Jennings family. Ducales group said: "Currently fully occupied, both in terms of commercial tenants and residential occupants, and with over 250 employees throughout the complex, St Anne's square continues to prosper and we look forward with confidence to further investment and resultant growth."
The Jennings brothers have regularly featured in the rich List for northern Ireland and five years ago sold their building services firm rotary in Antrim to the Hastie Engineering group in Melbourne in a cash and shares deal worth £95m. Ducales said the restructure has been undertaken to rebalance the Valto's financial position, adding that Ulster Bank Limited has "provided assistance" throughout the process alongside PricewaterhouseCoopers and "will continue to offer support".
* Main assets: St Anne's Square, Belfast is now being run by the Ducales Group n Sold: Springhill Retail Park in Bangor has just been sold for a near £11m