The on-off sale of Sainsbury's development arm reached a conclusion last week, with the£168 million sale of J Sainsbury Developments (JSD) to a new indirect property vehicle set up by Catalyst Capital.
Catalyst was only a late bidder for the portfolio, after Kier Properties and Miller Developments had been shortlisted.
Catalyst will inject the portfolio of 16 developments into a new vehicle called the Blue Investment Fund, which is a joint venture between Schroders Gresham Property Partners LP and Deutsche UK Property Venture Fund No 2.
The 16 projects throughout the UK range from out-of-town retail to in-town mixed-use developments. They are mostly unrelated to Sainsbury's store development programme.
Significantly, Sainsbury's withdrew five of its sites - worth£25 million - from the sale and will retain them within its own portfolio for future development or for separate sales.
Sainsbury's property director Desmond Taljaard said: 'Going forward we will concentrate our property development activities on core supermarket developments. JSD no longer fits strategically with the business because it has emphasised delivering sche-mes, which primarily do not relate to our supermarkets.'
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