Olswang's Real Estate team helps Capital & Regional acquire The Kingfisher Shopping Centre

Teams from across the Real Estate Sector have acted on behalf of Capital & Regional plc in connection with their acquisition of The Kingfisher Shopping Centre, Redditch from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership for the sum of £130m at an 8% initial yield.

Capital & Regional acquired the property in a specially formed limited partnership with its capital partner, Oaktree Capital Group LLC. Senior debt was provided by Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander. RBS also provided mezzanine finance.

The Kingfisher Centre is a dominant sub-regional mall and extends to over one million sq ft of retail accommodation, including 2,800 car parking spaces, and integrated bus station, and adjacent railway station.  Anchor tenants include Debenhams, M&S, Primark, Next, Arcadia, and TK Maxx, and there is an Apollo multi-screen cinema on the site.  There are around 200 tenants in total.

Client relationship partner Tim Westhead lead the acquisition team with assistance on the real estate side from Carol Griffin and Melissa Brett. David Bunker and Gordon Ker handled the joint venture arrangements and the complex off-shore structuring of the transaction. Daniel Aherne and Anna Cope advised on the employment aspects of both the aquisition and the joint venture arrangements, and Mark Joscelyne provided tax input. 

The banking side of the transaction was led by Ruth Marken and Kerry Langton, assisted by Neil Sargent and Alice Hyde.  The banking team put in a terrific amount of work and effort to agree the senior, mezzanine and hedging documents in an incredibly short space of time.

Ken Ford Executive Director of Capital & Regional Plc said:

"This complex and important transaction showed Team Olswang at their best. The respective real estate, corporate & banking units worked seamlessly together, managing the numerous advisors on the other side with patience and respect. The commitment to the deal was total, the hours long and the result highly satisfactory. Well done."                                                       

Oaktree were represented by Paul Hastings, and the vendors by Dundas & Wilson.

The senior lenders were represented by DLA Piper where Toby Barker and Chris Chan acted, and Addleshaw Goddard acted in relation to the mezzanine finance.