Gouldens has advised Pillar Property plc and the Hercules Unit Trust on the sale of a portfolio of 11 retail parks to Morley Fund Management for a price in excess of £185 million.
Suzanne Billington of Gouldens advised both Pillar and Hercules. Jamie Davey of Norwich Union's in-house legal team acted on behalf of Morley.
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The properties sold and total purchase prices are as follows:
Hercules’ properties
Beacon Retail Park, Bletchley
Stanley Green Retail Park, Cheadle Hulme
Chaul Lane Retail Park, Luton
Lady Bay Retail Park, Nottingham
Kingsway Retail Park, Rochdale
Phase III, Clifton Moor, York
Purchase price: £132.25m
Pillar’s properties
B&Q Depot, Bilston
B&Q, Eastleigh
Comet and Magnet, Cray Avenue, Orpington
Orpinton Retail Park, Orpington
Plough Lane Retail Park, Wimbledon
Purchase price: £52.775m
- Hercules was created in September 2000 as a closed-ended Jersey property unit trust to invest in properties in major warehouse or shopping park locations in the United Kingdom. Its investment objective is to achieve an annual total return in excess of 1 per cent above the IPD Retail Warehouse benchmark over the life of the trust. Hercules has an initial life of 10 years from September 2000, subject to any extension authorised by Hercules unitholders.
- Pillar Property Management Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pillar, is property adviser to Hercules. The manager of Hercules is Schroder Property Managers (Jersey) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Schroders plc. The trustees of Hercules are The Royal Bank of Scotland Trust Company (Jersey) Limited and RBSI Trust Company Limited. The trustees and the manager are regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.