The Ardent Companies (Ardent), the US-based real estate investment and asset management firm, has acquired two town centre shopping centre assets from a client of Delancey in an all-equity purchase.
Ardent, which is entering a newly-acquisitive phase that reconfirms its long-term commitment to the UK market, completed the acquisition of Royal Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington Spa on September 2nd. It has also exchanged contracts with the same seller to acquire the Howard Centre in Welwyn Garden City, with completion to follow in due course.
Royal Priors in the centre of Royal Leamington Spa provides 172,000 sq ft of retail and dining space, with notable occupiers including Søstrene Grene, Superdry, Hobbs, Pandora, Sports Direct, Waterstones, Mountain Warehouse and Giggling Squid. The Howard Centre, located adjacent to Welwyn Garden City train station, has 180,000 sq ft of retail, dining and leisure, with brands including H&M, FatFace, Hotel Chocolat, Nando’s, The Gym Group, Boots and Starbucks.
The new acquisitions follow Ardent’s recent launch of The Place 4 Self Storage – a new UK self-storage platform – and the ongoing strong performance of its other UK retail assets: Touchwood in Solihull and The Royal Exchange in the City of London. In addition to its retail holdings, Ardent has a 1.5 million sq ft strategic national industrial portfolio.
Matt Shulman, CEO and Managing Partner of The Ardent Companies, said: “We have long-term conviction in the potential of UK real estate. Since entering the UK in 2021, we have built a diversified portfolio across retail, industrial, and self-storage, and the work we have done at Touchwood and The Royal Exchange shows what active ownership can deliver in the right locations. Acquiring Royal Priors and The Howard Centre outright reflects the capital we are prepared to commit to this market and our belief in the long-term strength of UK town centres.”
Andrew Hilston, UK managing director at The Ardent Companies, added: “These two shopping centres represent exactly the kind of assets we are interested in – high street locations in affluent areas that offer significant opportunities for adding value through the active asset management that defines our approach. We are highly acquisitive, confident in our commitment and are actively pursuing further buys across a number of different sectors as we look to grow our UK portfolio further.”
Sovereign Centros from CBRE is the asset manager for both assets, following its work with Ardent on other assets. GCW acted on behalf of Ardent on the acquisitions, while Knight Frank advised the seller. Addleshaw Goddard advised Ardent on legal aspects of the deals.
