UK property and construction group Henry Boot has agreed the £33.8 mln (EUR 40 mln) disposal of Ayr Central shopping centre and, separately, the sale of optioned land with planning permission for 700 dwellings at Buckingham. The mall was acquired by Sovereign Land and AREA Property Partners for a net initial yield of 6.25%.

The land plot was bought by Barratt Developments and Bovis Homes Group for an undisclosed sum.

Located in the heart of Ayr town centre, the 180,000-sq ft (17,000-m2) shopping centre was developed in 2006 by HBD and is anchored by Debenhams and Primark, with other tenants including H&M, JD Sports, HMV, Clarks and River Island. Springford & Co and Savills acted for HBD and King Sturge represented Sovereign Land.

'The completion of these two transactions will result in the group moving to a net cash position,' said Jamie Boot, group managing director of Henry Boot. 'These deals were included in management's forecasts for 2011 and confirm that the market for high quality retail assets and greenfield development sites in good housing locations is reasonably strong.'