BUSINESS consortium has paid almost £4 million for 15 shops at the Market Cross shopping centre in Kilkenny.

The deal will provide a valuable tax shelter and a yield of 8 per cent for the new owners.

Five of the shops in the portfolio are let at a rent roll of £113,000. The developers, Town and County, are underwriting a rent of £230,150 per annum for the unlet units for a period of up to three years.

Bill Ledwidge of accountants BDO Simpson Xavier handled negotiations for the consortium, which will be able to claim capital allowances covering 87 per cent of the purchase price.

An initial allowance of 54 per cent can be claimed in the current year and the balance at 4 per cent per annum.

The units being sold are the last remaining interests held by Town and County. However, its residual interest in the centre, together with the interests of the consortium, will be represented by Duke House Asset Managers.

Bernard Hamill, who negotiated the sale of the 15 shops for Town and County, reports that the pedestrian counts at Market Cross have increased steadily to a recent high of 104,000 shoppers per week.

The five new lettings are to Stauntons Sports, which will occupy 2,900 square feet at an initial rent of £42,000; women's fashion store Japan has taken a shop of 799 square feet at £25,000; Sonic, unisex fashion, which has rented a unit of 809 square feet at £25,500; jeans shop 42nd Street is paying £12,000 for an outlet of 432 square feet; and Cellular World, which has taken 190 square feet at £8,500.