British Land buys seven retail parks from Brookfield for £441m

British Land has asked shareholders for £300 million as it doubles down on its bet on UK retail parks.
The FTSE 100 landlord has agreed to buy seven more retail parks dotted around the country from Brookfield Asset Management, the Canadian property investor, for £441 million.
It said that it will partly fund the acquisition with a proposed equity placing of about £300 million.
Simon Carter, British Land’s chief executive, has made no secret of his enthusiasm for retail parks, which he likes because of what he calls “the three As”: affordability, because rents are generally cheaper; adaptability, as retailers can use them as click-and-collect centres or last-mile delivery hubs; and accessibility, because they are usually well-located around the edges of towns and cities with ample parking.
“We started buying [retail parks] in 2021 and since then they have been the best performing part of UK real estate,” Carter, 49, said. “Multi-channel retailers have quickly worked out that a retail park is the best physical format for filling online [orders].”
Reflecting retail parks’ popularity with both retailers and consumers, British Land’s seven new parks are 99 per cent let. Carter and his team have spoken to the current tenants who confirmed that the sites “trade very well”.
Because of the strong occupancy rates, British Land is confident that retail parks rents will continue to rise in stark contrast to other parts of the commercial property market.
The commercial property market has been in a rut for the past two years amid spiralling interest rates, although there have been signs that activity, and values, are starting to rebound.
British Land’s shares, like many of its peers, trade at about a 20 per cent discount to its net asset value, which has made it tougher to convince investors to back it with more money.
However, Carter said: “In the past, shareholders have said to us that if you find something with good returns, then please do have a conversation with us. What’s really exciting is [this deal is] earnings accretive — that’s what they’re focused on.”
British Land shares closed down by 2½p, or 0.6 per cent, at 437¾p last night.