The Ridings Shopping Centre

​NewRiver has exchanged contracts to buy the Neptune Portfolio, which includes ​the Ridings, the Cornmill Shopping Centre in Darlington and the Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff, for £92.3m.

It has also bought a retail warehouse adjacent to the Clifton Moor Retail Park in York for £4.7m, the Blenheim Shopping Centre in London for £6.9m and the Daventry Retail Park in Northamptonshire for an initial £4.1m.

The Ridings Shopping Centre​ in​ Wakefield​ is a ​320,000 sq ft ​covered multi-level shopping centre with 10 million annual footfall and ​a ​primary catchment population of 309,000​ and​ a 1,070 space landlord controlled car park​.​ Its key retailers are Primark, Morrisons, TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer and BHS.

NewRiver said: “The three retail assets each offer excellent value-enhancing asset management and development opportunities.”

The acquisitions will be funded by a proposed conditional placing to raise £150m, which was announced earlier this month.

NewRiver said the shopping centres are home to a range of high quality retailers and anchor stores, including Next, Primark, Tesco, Morrisons, TK Maxx, Easy Gym and Boots.

David Lockhart, CEO of NewRiver Retail, said: “Following our recently over-subscribed £150m equity raise, we are delighted to announce the swift deployment of the majority of the proceeds into these strategic acquisitions.