Member Article

Wakefield retail park acquired for £12m

The Otium Leisure Fund, a £200m pot of money managed by investment firm Otium Real Estate, has announced the completion of an initial three transactions - including a £12m Westfield retail park.

The acquisition of three assets totaling over £30m comes one year after Otium Real Estate entered the leisure real estate market.

The property investment company, led by founder and CEO Ashley Blake, focuses exclusively on commercial leisure real estate.

The Otium Leisure Ventures fund invests in leisure assets such as leisure parks, city centre leisure blocks and stand-alone assets including cinemas, restaurants, health clubs and bowling alleys. It targets leisure assets where value can be added through active asset management.

The transactions include Nuffield Health and Fitness in Cannock for £4m, the Westgate Leisure Park in Wakefield for £12m and most recently the Newport Leisure Park at £14m.

The Westgate Leisure Park and the Newport Leisure Park house a selection of popular leisure brands such as Cineworld, Nandos, McDonalds, Harvester, Frankie & Bennys, Pizza Hut and Mecca. Other deals are in the pipeline.

Otium has been backed by a consortium of international institutional investors.

Ashley Blake, CEO of Otium Real Estate, said: “We are delighted to have successfully acquired these three assets within 7 months of our fund launch and achieved the creation of our first fund.

“The leisure market is in great shape, with acquisition opportunities for those with specialist sector knowledge. Strong occupational demand and increasing consumer confidence are boosting leisure spending, making it an outperforming sector for property investment.”

Otium is actively seeking new acquisitions for the fund. DTZ represented Otium on Cannock and Newport and Knight Frank on Wakefield.