It’s not just poor performing shopping centres that are the subject of sell-offs. One of the star performers in the UK retail sector this year has been centre:mk in Milton Keynes and its half-owner AustralianSuper has cashed in.

It’s sold its stake in the 1.3m sq ft Buckinghamshire mall to Royal London Asset Management Property for an undisclosed sum, which means we don’t know how much it made (or lost) on the deal. The company will share ownership with Federated Hermes retaining the remaining half on behalf of the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS).

It was only in January 2014 when AustralianSuper acquired its 50% stake in centre:mk for £270 million from BTPS, marking the Australian fund’s first but short-lived direct property investment outside its domestic market.

Paul Nicholson, Senior Asset Manager at Royal London, said the acquisition “marks a significant move [for the company]… demonstrating our confidence in the retail market’s recovery and the future success of well-located, best-in-class shopping centres.”

He added: “As consumer confidence improves, low inflation and high earnings growth are expected to enhance spending power, subsequently boosting retailers’ sales. centre:mk, as a catchment-dominant shopping centre, is poised to benefit from this recovery.

“Underpinned by high footfall and sales, centre:mk offers a strong, stable income stream coupled with a low vacancy rate, significantly below the UK shopping centre average, highlighting its resilience and appeal.”

centre:mk has enjoyed a successful post-pandemic period continuing to attract big-name retailers including more recent arrivals Mint Velvet, Office, Space NK, Castore, joining Mango, H&M, Reiss, John Lewis, River Island, Dune and Jigsaw.

In early October, the centre attracted 113,000 visitors across a weekend to host “the UK’s largest fashion and beauty indoor event”. The Fashion Weekend event featured 80 brands across 40 of the destination’s retailers. And across the weekend, it said the whole centre’s footfall was up 6.1% year-on-year.