Retail property - Hermes picks up Gates Centre in Bolton for £13m

Possfund, the Royal Mail pension fund managed by Hermes, has bought The Gates Centre in Bolton, Greater Manchester, from Parkwood for£13.4 million.

The present rent roll is£874,000 a year, giving a net initial yield of 6.5 per cent.

The deal is strategically important for Hermes, which already owns the adjacent Crompton Place Shopping Centre, and the two centres will now be fully integrated under common ownership.

Parkwood - the shopping centre specialists owned by Robert Maxted, Derek Lucie-Smith and John Lorimer - only bought The Gates Centre in April 2002, paying Boots Properties£11 million.

King Sturge and Forsters advised the vendor. Herbert Smith acted for the purchaser.