In the last two years we have advised upon the acquisition of the largest portfolio of retail parks since 2003, the acquisition of the UK’s largest retail park (Castlepoint) and the sale of the second largest retail park (Parkgate).
In the last year we have sold or acquired 26 retail parks, with a combined value in excess of £1 billion.
Curson Sowerby has been ranked the UK’s leading retail warehouse letting agency for the
third year in a row, with 286 instructions totalling 30 million sq ft.
The majority of the retail parks that we have acquired for clients have been off-market transactions as we have strong relationships with most investors that are active in the sector. These have included many of the UK’s leading retail parks such as Cambridge Retail Park, Ladymead Retail Park in Guildford, County Oak Retail Park in Crawley, Castlepoint in Bournemouth, Solihull Retail Park and a £530 million portfolio for Redevco.
Working closely with our partner agency Curson Sowerby, we offer unparalleled advice upon the long term prospects of retail parks, allowing us to identify investments that will outperform. Curson Sowerby have just been ranked the Number 1 retail park letting agency for the third year in a row and are retained by tenants including B&Q, Pets at Home, Ikea, JD Gyms, Sofology and Sleep 8. As such they have an exceptional insight into the occupational market, which is invaluable when evaluating potential acquisitions.
During the last year, Staunton Whiteman has sold 9 retail parks with a combined value of nearly £0.5 billion. These have included Trafford Retail Park, St George’s Retail Park in Leicester, Junction 27 Retail Park in Leeds, The Oaks in Harlow and Junction One Retail Park in Liverpool.
When instructed to dispose of retail warehouse investments all work is carried out by the two partners, Nick Staunton and Hamish Whiteman.
Many of our most successful transactions have been in respect of developments, where we have negotiated complex conditional funding agreements. We have arranged funding packages for developers at a very early stage in the development cycle, in order to provide our clients with certainty and to protect them from adverse market movement.
We acted for The Crown Estate upon the funding of Rushden Lakes near Northampton, which is the largest recent retail/leisure park funding, with an end value of £0.5 billion.
We regularly advise our clients upon the asset management of their retail warehouse investments, both to optimise the value of long term holdings, as well as to prepare properties for marketing so that the highest price can be achieved.
We also advise clients upon the relative merits of offers from competing tenants, in order to maximise the value of their properties. In doing so, we consider not just the rental level and the effect upon capital value, but also the longer term strategic aims for the park.
With a combined experience of over 65 years, we are able to quickly appraise portfolios of retail warehousing and advise upon their acquisition and sale.
In 2016 we advised Goldman Sachs on the acquisition of the Alecta Portfolio (£350 million) and subsequently sold the retail warehouse assets in line with our agreed business plan.
In 2020 we acquired 6 retail parks for MetroBox from Aberdeen, with a total value of over £300 million and have subsequently profitably disposed of 5 of them.
In 2024, we advised Redevco upon their acquisition of 16 retail Parks from M7, the largest retail warehouse portfolio transacted for over 20 years.
