Overseas Investments: Irish company BHL has acquired the Pentagon shopping centre in Chatham in Kent for €138.98 million (£93 million).
BHL is a joint venture between Davy Private Clients and Irish property developers Duignan & McCarthy.
The deal is the first step overseas by BHL in a planned €597 million (£400 million) investment programme targeting retail assets in Ireland and the UK.
The Pentagon centre, which extends to 30,658sq m (330,000sq ft), is on Chatham High Street and is anchored by Sainsbury's and Wilkinson.
It was sold by Dunedin Property. BHL plans to extend and redevelop the centre over the next few years.
The shopping centre currently attracts a weekly footfall of up to 225,000 people. Located within a half-hour train journey to London, Chatham has a primary catchment population of 250,000.
The UK government has earmarked Chatham for an urban regeneration project and the shopping centre is at the heart of the plan. The project will receive €15 million (£10 million) in funding from the UK's "Sustainable Communities Plan".
Davy Property Division has built up a portfolio worth over €2 billion of direct and indirect real estate investments in the UK, Europe and US.
Duignan & McCarthy is a retail investor and developer based in Navan, Co Meath. It has invested in a number of shopping centres in Ireland, including Navan shopping centre, and developments in Swords and Mullingar.
