£40m for NewRiver’s shopping spree

RETAIL property investor NewRiver Retail is to raise £40m from shareholders to fund the acquisition of four regional shopping centres – Merlin’s Walk in Carmarthen, the Piazza in Paisley, Hildreds in Skegness and the Horsefair in Wisbech.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Jun 2011, 09:23 GMT

NewRiver is buying the assets from Zurich Assurance Limited for approximately £68m.

Due to the size of the transaction, the acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover so trading in NewRiver shares has been temporarily suspended.

Trading is expected to resume when the company publishes an admission document in respect of the proposed enlarged NewRiver group, including details of the acquisition.

David Lockhart, chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to announce the conditional acquisition of this major portfolio of shopping centres for a total consideration of £68m.

“The acquisition is another transformational transaction for NewRiver.”

Skegness