British Land raises funds for retail investment

Major retail property investment firm, British Land, the owner

of the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield and Drakes Circus in Plymouth, has raised nearly 1 billion pounds to help it acquire a number of retail and office properties that are coming on to the market.

The company has sold its Ropemaker Place development in London for 472 million pounds and raised 493 million pounds in a share sale to help it buy properties in the company’s core sectors with a focus on London and the South East.

In a statement British Land said: "In recent months, the company has seen a clear acceleration in the flow of opportunities in its core sectors. "Many of these opportunities are being driven by structural changes, as institutions reconfigure their property holdings and smaller competitors look to exit the UK market." Last month, British Land bought the Ealing Broadway shopping centre in west London for 183.8 million pounds from Werldhave NV.