Press office

This is NewRiver’s largest acquisition to date. The shopping centres, which are located in Carmarthen, Wisbech, Skegness and Paisley have a net initial yield of 8.0% and a net lettable area of 502,500 square feet. The venues attract an annual footfall of 19 million, with key retail tenants including The Co-operative, Poundland, TK Maxx and Boots. The majority of the rental income is let to multiple retailers.

Due to the size of the transaction, the Acquisition constituted a reverse takeover, which Eversheds corporate partner Aleen Gulvanessian and senior associate Simon Wood advised on, along with the associated fundraising. Partner Steve Felstead advised on real estate issues and partner Daniyal Ansari assisted by Sarah Clark advised on the banking issues. Aleen commented:

"We are delighted to have been involved with yet another exciting acquisition for NewRiver, which has been incredibly active on multiple acquisitions and fundraisings since its IPO in 2009. It demonstrates that an experienced management team with a focused strategy can grow in a difficult economic period."

David Lockhart, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“This is NewRiver’s largest acquisition to date and has been made possible in difficult markets by the support of new and existing shareholders for a major equity fundraising, again the Company’s largest to date. NewRiver has now made £220 million of asset purchases in under two years and is demonstrating that its strategy of acquiring attractive high-yield, food anchored and value-led investments which benefit from our active asset management and risk controlled development skills is delivering for shareholders. We have immense ambition at NewRiver and are now looking forward to the next stage of the Company’s development.”