In the biggest of the three sales, Standard Life has put The Interchange Retail Park in Bedford on the market for £103m, representing a yield of 6%.
The 174,000 sq ft asset is currently held in the Standard Life Investments’ closed-ended UK Retail Park Trust.
Meanwhile, Aviva Investors is selling the 268,821 sq ft Kingsgate Shopping Park in East Kilbride for about £100m and Columbia Threadneedle Investments is marketing the 141,141 sq ft Kittybrewster Retail Park near Aberdeen for £40m.
These sales will be seen as a test of the appetite for Scottish assets, with the only Scottish retail park deals completed this year being NewRiver Retail’s purchase of Cuckoo Bridge Retail Park in Dumfries for £20.2m in June and Valad Europe’s purchase of Clyde Retail Park near Glasgow for around £17m in July.
Market sources said that traditional buyers, including UK funds, were returning to the market after pausing for breath in the first half of the year.
“We have gone from a situation of very little activity and most of the buying coming from private equity to a situation where we have got some institutions back in the market and having a look at a few things,” one retail park agent told Property Week.
“These funds have been inactive for an extended period of time and some of them have money to spend. Retail warehousing off ers some strong covenants on long leases and at the moment that’s what people are after.”
Montagu Evans is acting for Standard Life, Morgan Williams is representing Columbia Threadneedle and Wilkinson Williams is acting for Aviva. All parties declined to comment.
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