Praxis expands UK retail portfolio

by   CIJ iDesk I
2018-10-17   10:02
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Praxis bought the Blaydon Shopping Centre near Newcastle for GBP 30m. The 120,000 sq ft property is anchored by a 70,000 sq ft Morrison’s supermarket. This is the UK investor’s third property acquisition in the last 12 months, taking the company’s retail investment volume for the time period to GBP 50m. Praxis’ portfolio now includes eights projects. Knight Frank advised the buyer, while Savills represented the seller.

“We’ve been looking to increase our retail allocation since the backend of 2016, but it has taken time for the market to reprice itself. We are realistic about retail fundamentals and spend a lot of time interrogating the detail when underwriting individual schemes, but we don’t believe that all retail is in terminal decline,” said James Hewitt, investment manager at Praxis. “We stand ready to invest further as and when we can find the right centers, in the right location, at the right price, albeit there are still a lot of sellers in denial about the value of these assets, so patience is the key.”