By Victoria Brenan

Last updated at 11:56, Tuesday, 10 July 2012

The Lanes shopping centre in Carlisle is on the brink of being sold for around £65 million.

The Lanes today

F&C Reit has made an offer to buy the shopping centre in Carlisle city centre from Aviva Investors.

Market sources said the real estate fund manager is understood to have beaten strong competition for the 465,000 sq ft centre on Globe Lane.

Aviva appointed Strutt & Parker to bring the centre, which it has owned for nearly 30 years, to the market in April for £65m.

Those involved were not commenting but Aviva issued a statement confirming they had agreed terms for the sale and had entered “exclusive talks” with the buyer.

The sale will make no difference to retailers or the city council, which owns the bricks and mortar.

Rental income is shared between the council and the shopping centre owner. with the owner getting around £4.88m a year in rent.

The Lanes opened in 1984, built by the council in partnership with insurance giant General Accident. General Accident was taken over by Norwich Union, which later changed its name to Aviva.

Under the terms of the deal, General Accident put up most of the £17m development costs in return for a 250-year lease.

F&C Reit, a real estate fund manager, has been an active buyer of UK retail assets in recent times most notably buying The Mall in Middlesbrough and The Mall in Barnsley for around £108m in last June. It has a global portfolio of properties under management with a value of £7.4bn.

A spokeswoman for the city council said they had been notified of the sale.

First published at 11:31, Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk