The Springs Retail Park Sold in £73.5m Leeds Deal

Legal & General has sold the Thorpe Park retail and leisure destination to a new NewRiver-led partnership backed by two Singapore investors

A major Leeds retail park has been bought in a £73.5m deal backed by overseas investment. The Springs, the retail and leisure destination at Thorpe Park on the eastern edge of the city, has been sold by Legal & General to a newly formed partnership led by listed property group NewRiver and backed by two Singapore investors. The purchase is the partnership’s first, and it has chosen Leeds as the place to start building a national portfolio of retail parks. It is a notable vote of confidence in the city’s out-of-town retail market.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Attracting international capital into a major Leeds asset is a real signal of confidence in the city. A £73.5m deal keeps one of the region’s biggest retail destinations invested in and actively managed, protecting the jobs and trade tied to its shops and restaurants. That Singapore investors have chosen Leeds for this partnership’s first move underlines the pull of the city’s retail market when high streets elsewhere are under pressure.

What the Sale of The Springs Involves

Extending to around 275,000 sq ft with more than 900 parking spaces, the park sits at the junction of the M1 and the Leeds Ring Road, and its tenants include M&S, Next, TK Maxx, Boots, Mango, The Range, Nando’s and an Odeon cinema. The buyer is a new capital partnership between NewRiver, a UK real estate investment trust that specialises in retail, and affiliates of Singapore’s Soilbuild Group Holdings and United Engineers. NewRiver holds a 25% stake, a net equity investment of £9.3m, and will run the asset management, earning fees alongside its share of returns. The purchase price reflects a net initial yield of 7%. For the Singapore partners, the deal builds on existing UK interests: Soilbuild already runs a student accommodation business in Britain, while United Engineers is a property and engineering group. The partners say they intend to keep buying to grow the platform.

“The Springs is an exceptional first acquisition for the Capital Partnership. It is a high-quality asset with attractive fundamentals, strong occupier performance and clear opportunities to deliver further growth.”

— Allan Lockhart, Chief Executive, NewRiver REIT

Confidence in Leeds Retail

The deal is a marker of appetite for well-let retail parks, a corner of the property market that has proved more resilient than the struggling high street, with shoppers valuing free parking and a mix of big-name stores and leisure. NewRiver, which manages around £2.1bn of assets after buying rival Capital & Regional last year, has described retail parks as one of its highest-conviction investments. For Leeds, the sale of The Springs adds to a run of investment flowing into the city, from the Bank of England’s new permanent base to major office lettings, and comes as the city-centre retail vacancy rate has fallen to a record low.