BNP Paribas Real Estate has bought a leisure complex in the West Midlands on behalf of Surrey County Council.
The 37,715 sqft Worcester property, anchored by a cinema and containing 13 retail units, was sold for 拢11.3m (鈧�13.1m).
Andrew Meikle, senior investment director at Real Estate, said: 鈥淭he location is already the core leisure destination for Worcester and the surrounding area, which will only get stronger due to the development of more leisure space in the immediate vicinity.鈥�
The acquisition comes as Surrey鈥檚 local authority pension scheme weighs up investing in a new UK leisure property fund, the second launched by one of its its existing external managers.
The Surrey Pension Fund cited the success of its 2013 investment in the Darwin Leisure Property Fund, which has achieved an annualised three-year return of 11.2%, as one of the reasons it was considering the latest fund launch.
Its stake in the inaugural Darwin fund has risen from 拢20m to 拢27.3m in value.
In documents prepared for the 拢3.2bn fund鈥檚 most recent pensions committee, Sheila Little, director of finance at Surrey County Council, noted that the first Darwin fund, established in 2008, had put in place a soft close and was turning its attention to the launch of a second fund, which would also invest in UK holiday parks showing 鈥減otential鈥� for redevelopment.
鈥淪econdly,鈥� she added, 鈥渦nlike the Darwin Leisure Property Fund, this fund will utilise modest gearing at a level of around 20% to help finance acquisitions and redevelopment.鈥�
The director of finance noted the significant cost savings the pension fund could achieve by committing to the new launch early 鈥� highlighting annual management charges of 0.5% or 0.6%, depending on the investor鈥檚 decision to lock in capital for a decade, compared with an AMC of 0.75% and 0.85%, respectively, after April 2017.
A spokesman for the council told IPE Real Estate the pensions committee had deferred its decision to commit 拢20m to the Darwin Leisure Development Fund, a small part of the 拢300m in capital desired by Darwin, to the next meeting, scheduled for 10 February.
Darwin鈥檚 first fund has so far invested in 19 leisure parks across England and Wales, with assets worth 拢478m.
