Dutch listed real estate company Wereldhave is closing in on the acquisition of Ealing Broadway shopping centre in London. The asset is valued at some £153 mln (EUR 177 mln), which is said to reflect a yield of 6.1%.

Wereldhave's treasurer Charles Bloema confirmed in Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad that the company is conducting 'intensive' discussions with vendor Legal & General Properties about buying the 25,000 m2 mall. Bloema emphasised that such talks cannot be rushed.

While the asset is not in the prime category its position within the UK capital's M25 ring motorway has ensured serious investor interest.

Asset manager ING REIM, now CBRE Global Investors, and UK REIT Land Securities are also said to have been interested in the asset, though it seems the scales have shifted in Wereldhave's favour. Land Securities declined to comment. CBRE Global Investors was not reachable for comment.
Earlier media reports have suggested that ING REIM was acting on behalf of its mandate for the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund.

Amsterdam-listed Wereldhave has been eyeing Ealing Broadway for months but the asking price was a stumbling block. About a month ago the price dropped 15% to £153 mln. 'Since then we have been very busy with it,' Bloema said. Knight Frank is acting for Legal & General Properties and Jones Lang LaSalle is advising Wereldhave.

Responding to a question on Ealing Broadway during the presentation of Wereldhave's Q3 results, CEO Hans Pars noted the comments in the media but said the company did not want to comment at the moment. 'We are looking at various centres in the UK and Ealing Broadway is certainly one of them,' Pars added.

In the UK, Wereldhave owns the 50,000 m2 Dolphin Centre shopping centre in Poole. It also owns two smaller centres in London, one with 2,300 m2 and the other comprising 4,369 m2. The company indicated that it is seeking to build up shopping centre portfolios in the UK and France.

Wereldhave reported a direct result of EUR 84.8 mln, down from EUR 87.6 mln in the same period last year. Pars said the decrease of 3.9% was mainly due to interest charges and exchange rate differences. The company is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland, the UK and the US. The investment portfolio was valued at EUR 2.8 bn at end-September 2011.

So far in the fourth quarter Wereldhave has a department store for EUR 45 mln and two buildings in the Netherlands for EUR 24 mln.