Houndshill bought out of administration
Anglo Irish Bank has suffered substantial losses on its £140m loan to Modus for the Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool, which has been sold for £85m to Blackstone and Catalyst Capital.
The 400,000 sq ft centre reopened after a £100m extension by Modus, which owned the asset in the subsidiary Modus Corovest (Blackpool), but the centre went into administration in June 2009.
The sale to Blackstone and Catalyst Capital reflects a net yield of 7.4%. Blackstone and Catalyst Capital funded the acquisition with a £55.25m loan from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.
Ilan Goldman from Catalyst Capital, said: "This acquisition represents a solid retail purchase made in an extremely difficult investment market."
James Lock, from Blackstone's real estate team, said: "Blackpool is the most popular seaside resort in the UK and is currently undergoing a regeneration, with significant investment in the beachfront promenade, the Winter Gardens and the Blackpool Tower, which has already had a positive effect on visitor numbers to the town. The scheme is ideally placed to benefit from this and to satisfy the latent retailer demand for the town. Blackstone is already an investor in Blackpool through our investment in Hilton hotels and Merlin Entertainments, the manager of the Blackpool Tower, so this is a natural fit for us."
Savills advised administrator KPMG. Lunson Mitchenall acted for the buyers.
