Shopping centre bought out of administration for £7.1m

Praxis Capital has completed the acquisition of the under-administration Westmorland Shopping Centre in the heart of the Lake District town of Kendal for £7.1m

It is the London company’s first return to the sector since 2013.

Gary Roberts, managing director of Praxis Capital, said: “Secondary shopping centres, or more specifically, community retailing is a sector that we have been actively monitoring for the last 12 months.

“Whilst we accept that the market is going through a seismic and fundamental structural change, the populist view that the exponential rise of e-commerce will eliminate the need for the physical store is fundamentally flawed.

“This is Darwinism in action, and the weakest parts of the market will continue to be undermined while fit-for-purpose and appropriately sized shopping destinations will remain at the centre of every retailer’s multichannel sales offering.

“Until this transformation is complete, we expect there to be high levels of volatility within the sector which will result in extractable value for investors, like us, who know what to do and, crucially, are patient and able to weather the storm.

“Westmorland Shopping Centre fits our criteria in terms of dominance and demographic but it has been woefully mismanaged for years and therefore represents a highly viable opportunity to grow income through a deliverable leasing strategy which will, in turn, enable us to achieve an attractive return in what is otherwise a very tight property market.”

Having purchased the property, which has been in administration since early 2015, Praxis intends to invest further capital ahead of leveraging its retailer network to attract new brands to the town.

Praxis was advised by Finn & Company while CBRE advised administrator BDO.