Aviva Investors is in talks to buy the Bishop Centre Retail Park in Taplow from Landsec for around £45 million or a 6.5% yield, CoStar News understands.
The retail park is one of three retail assets that Landsec soft-tested to the market in the run-up to last Christmas and then decided not to proceed with formal sales, but which it is now successfully selling.
The real estate investment trust appointed agents to market Bishop Centre, Nene Valley Retail Park in Northamptonshire and Junction 32, the Yorkshire outlet centre, in Castleford, last year.
Market sources this week said Aviva is in the driving seat to buy Bishop Centre, an 105,000-square-foot retail park on the Bath Road in Taplow near Maidenhead which is 100% owned by Landsec and valued at between £50 million and £100 million on its website.
Last month, Frasers, the retailer founded by Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley, completed its acquisition Junction 32 in Yorkshire from Landsec for around £45 million.
Landsec had been marketing Junction 32 via Morgan Williams for £58 million or an 8% yield. The centre is close to the M62 and A639 with occupiers including Nike, Levi’s and Barbour, M&S, Skechers and ProCook.
Nene Valley Retail Park, where Landsec is being advised by Harvey Spack Field, is an 146,000-square-foot retail park on St James Road in Northampton with tenants including Dunelm, Dreams and Pets at Home. It is valued at between £15 million and £50 million on Landsec's website.
Landsec has been pressing on with a strategy to sell around £4 billion of mature assets and assets in sectors it sees as non-core, such as retail parks and leisure as well as some London offices, and reinvesting in growth opportunities.
In its half-year results published this month, the REIT reported that after three years implementing its 2020 strategy it has sold £2.5 billion of mostly largely, single-let City and Docklands offices and invested £1.9 billion in profitable development, retail and mixed-use urban schemes.
The period only saw £85 million of smaller, non-core disposals but chief executive Mark Allan promised the pace would pick up now as it "resumes the focus on subscale" including retail parks, hotels and leisure parks.
The UK retail park sector has remained favoured one for occupiers and investors. The amount of space available on retail parks has dropped to the lowest level in more than 15 years amid healthy retailer demand for out-of-town locations, according to CoStar data.
There is now just over 3 million square feet available on UK retail parks, half the amount that was being marketed two years ago and well below the long-term average as an increasingly diverse pool of retailers target locations with resilient footfall, an abundance of car parking and where large, flexible stores can be acquired at relatively low rents.