Israeli investor MDSR has exchanged to buy one of England's largest shopping centres for around £100 million.
Savills was appointed last year to sell the long leasehold interest in Festival Place Shopping Centre in Basingstoke, on behalf of receivers BDO. Market sources this week said the bellwether transaction has now exchanged.
CBRE is advising MDSR.
Festival Place, which comprises 1,127,629 square feet over 20 acres, dominates the commercial core of the affluent London commuter town and is one of the UK's largest shopping centres. Key anchor tenants include Marks & Spencer, Next and H&M, with other prominent occupiers including Superdrug, Apple, Nando’s, Sports Direct, Five Guys, TK Maxx and Vue Cinema. The scheme has a weighted average unexpired lease term of 5.76 years, with 4.36 years to break.
Sovereign Centros, the CBRE asset management business, has been pursuing a number of asset management initiatives via lettings to Superbowl and Hans Buffet in 16,750 square feet and 10,000 square feet respectively. Savills has said there is also strong demand for the vacant former Debenhams space, which spans three levels and 107,014 square feet. It has been considering introducing a mix of retail and leisure uses, aimed at improving dwell time, footfall and customer spend.
AEW Europe and Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought Festival Place from the-then TH Real Estate for around £285 million, a 6.3% yield, in 2015.
The sale is a trendsetting large-ticket transaction for the shopping centres market. In 2024, capital values surpassed the seven-year average, recording the highest levels since 2016, reaching £2.034 billion across 45 transactions, reports Savills, which in a recent article for CoStar News suggested 2025 is shaping up to be an even more active year for shopping centre investments.
The parties involved declined to comment.