US investor The Ardent Companies is in talks to buy the London Designer Outlet at Wembley Park, the massive development around the national stadium, for around £90 million, CoStar News understands.
LDO is owned by Quintain, as part of its Wembley Park mixed-use development, and is managed by Realm, the UK specialist outlet operator. Quintain is owned by Texas investment giant Lone Star.
The LDO comprises 265,000 square feet of retail and leisure and includes 70 outlet stores, restaurants and bars, a nine-screen Cineworld and a large children's play park.
It is home to a range of brands selling at up to 70% off the original retail price including Jack Wills, Nike, Guess, Next, Levi’s, Kurt Geiger, Superdry, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Hamleys.
In January 2021, Lone Star put on ice attempts to sell Quintain for £3 billion, blaming the continued impact of the pandemic.
It was the second aborted sales process for the build-to-rent focused company spun out of the Quintain regeneration company to focus solely on the 85-acre Wembley Park site in north-west London.
Lone Star took Quintain private in 2015 for £1 billion including debt.
Quintain was established in 1992 and notably pursued major development around Wembley and Greenwich in London. In October 2015 Lone Star Real Estate Fund IV’s £745 million takeover of Quintain went through. The company was de-listed on 23 October to operate as a private company.
In September this year, Quintain completed the refinancing of the company’s existing corporate facility and infrastructure loans.
The new agreement, totalling £780 million, is backed by JP Morgan and Cheyne Capital and replaces a previous facility agreed in 2016.
Since breaking ground on Wembley Park nearly 20 years ago, Quintain has completed more than 5,000 homes and invested £2.8 billion. Two further build to rent schemes are on track to be delivered in 2025, plus a large new public park.
Since its launch in early 2021, Ardent UK, the UK arm of the Ardent Group of companies, has established an industrial and logistics platform of over 2.25 million square feet and bought the Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull.
In September last year it bought one of the City of London's most famous landmarks, paying around £50 million for the retail element of The Royal Exchange.
Morgan Williams is advising Quintain and Cushman & Wakefield is advising Ardent.