Retail park in Fife sold in £400m deal

It was one of seven retail parks offloaded by Hammerson Orion European Real Estate Fund.

It was the largest UK retail parks portfolio sale in the past decade.

Hammerson bought Fife Retail Park, on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy, in 2005.

In 2018 it revealed a deal to sell it to Capreon, which is owned by British property investor Leo Noé.

The deal announced this week marks Hammerson’s exit from the retail parks sector.

Fife was one of two Scottish locations included in the package – Falkirk’s Central Retail Park was also sold.

You may also be interested in:

Why people flock to Fife Retail Park

Budget D-Day looms for Fife Council

Stagecoach announces direct bus routes to Fife Leisure Park

The development, next to John Smith Business Park, is held up as the most successful out of town retail park in Fife.

In recent years it has been expanded to include Next’s only Scottish superstore, and a number of big names have also moved in.

It offers a mix of retail as well as food and a supermarket with Sainsbury long-established as an anchor tenant.

It has also been hit by a number of closures as major chains have collapsed or downsized

David Atkins, Hammerson’s chief executive, said: “Against a challenged retail and investment backdrop we have exited the retail parks sector. Having achieved disposals of close to £1bn since the beginning of 2019, our focus remains on strengthening our balance sheet to create further resilience. The completion of this strategic disposal enables us to create a more concentrated portfolio of flagship venues, premium outlets and City Quarters which we expect will deliver greater levels of both income stability and growth over the medium term.”