ILVA acquires M&S Gateshead and Thurrock Lifestores
ILVA Furniture Limited, the U.K. trading arm of the Danish furniture group, backed by private equity group Advent International, has announced the completion of transactions with Marks and Spencer, Bride Hall Estates and Land Securities for the acquisition of leases on the two former Lifestore properties at Gateshead and West Thurrock.
ILVA has been granted planning permission to carry out extensive alterations to each building to create furniture stores in its own unique Scandinavian style, each comprising around 12,000 square metres of trading space. Construction will commence later this month on both developments, which together with the new store already being built at Piccadilly Basin, Manchester, means that ILVA will enter the UK market with the opening of three new stores during the spring and summer of 2006.
The deal is the culmination of several months of negotiations and store design work and follows the opening of ILVA’s first Swedish store in Malmo on 9th June. ILVA’s Executive Chairman Martin Toogood commented that the response from the general public in Sweden had far exceeded their most optimistic expectations and that he is confident of a similar success with customers across the U.K.
In Gateshead, Marks and Spencer have negotiated the sale of its freehold interest, with the benefit of the agreed lease to ILVA, to Bride Hall Estates. At West Thurrock, the store is to be held by ILVA on two leases; an underlease from Marks and Spencer out of its Lifestore head lease from Land Securities and a co-terminous lease direct from Land Securities on an immediately adjacent unit.
The West Thurrock store is part of Land Securities’ Lakeside Retail Park, which has been the subject of an ongoing programme of refurbishment and re-modelling, including changes to its tenant mix. New store openings in recent weeks include outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, Blacks, and home furniture and accessories retailer, Habitat. Hermione Mackill, Portfolio Manager of Land Securities, said that they are delighted to secure one of the first of the exciting new ILVA stores. Not only would this be a major new attraction within the revamped retail park, but it will also be a major local employer with the creation of 150 new jobs.
