The Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF) has moved to acquire Chorlton Shopping Centre in a £10m (E12m) deal from Development Securities.
GMPVF invests in property development and redevelopment opportunities in North-West England on behalf of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF)
The shopping centre has 16 retail units, a supermarket, offices and a car park. Existing tenants include travel agency Thomas Cook, newsagents Martins, Heron Foods, Quality Save and a large number of independent quality retailers.
Peter Morris, director of pensions, GMPF, the largest scheme for local authority workers in England & Wales, said: “This is a long-term investment. We will develop a plan that will see the centre improved over time, respecting the diversity of operators there.
”This acquisition continues our strategy of acquiring development and redevelopment opportunities in the north west.”
At present, property investments make up approximately 6% of GMPF’s £13bn portfolio, of which two-thirds are in direct holdings and one-third in funds.
Morris said that GMPF’s planned target allocation to property in the medium-term is 10%, delivered in various ways.
He added direct property holdings were expected to be in the range of 4 to 8% of the total portfolio. But the fund will continue to develop other means of obtaining its property exposure, such as GMPVF.
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