Australian investment fund Future Fund pays £200 million for one-third stake in Birmingham's Bullring Shopping Centre

Sep 21 2009 by Alun Thorne, Birmingham Mail

AN AUSTRALIAN investment fund has paid around £200 million for a 33 per cent stake in the Bullring in a remarkable show of confidence in the city’s retail sector.

The Australian government-backed Future Fund has acquired the stake in the iconic 1.2m sq ft shopping centre from Land Securities – one of the original members of the Birmingham Alliance that started redeveloping the centre almost a decade ago.

The deal, brokered by CB Richard Ellis’ Retail Capital Markets team for the Australians and Cushman & Wakefield for Land Securities, is one of the largest retail investment transactions in the UK this year and one of the biggest commercial investments ever in Birmingham.

Bruce Nutman, head of retail capital markets at CB Richard Ellis, said: “This sale is a strong indicator of investor confidence in the prime shopping centre investment market in the UK.

‘‘The Bullring is a modern, world-class, retail destination and the purchase reflects a net return of about seven per cent.”

Future Fund was established by the Australian Government in 2006 to strengthen its long-term position by investing assets to offset the government’s public sector superannuation liabilities.