Trafford Centre gets surprise new asset manager Pradera Lateral

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
May 14, 2021

Pradera Lateral is the surprise choice to manage the Trafford Centre with immediate effect. Its appointment follows a “competitive” tender process, seeing little-known Pradera beating industry giant Westfield to take control of the prized Manchester mall.

 
Pradera Lateral was appointed asset manager by Trafford Centre owner Canadian pension fund CPP Investments, which acquired the 2.2 million sq ft shopping centre in December. Its takeover followed the collapse of former owner/operator Intu last year.

Pradera Lateral, which is a joint venture formed at the end of 2020 between shopping centre management specialist Pradera Limited and developer Lateral Property, told the Manchester Evening News it was “very confident” for the future of the mall.

Although Pradera manages a retail property portfolio of 58 assets worth more than £3.5bn, including shopping centres in Europe and China, its UK portfolio is limited to operating retail parks in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, and Yeovil.

But Pradera chairman Colin Campbell told the newspaper its “under the radar” profile in the UK suited his company.

"We're well-known in our little niche of the real estate industry, particularly abroad, but we're not a household name and that suits us fine”.

He added: ”Having spotted what was going on in the shopping centre industry in Britain, we formed the joint venture with Lateral at the end of last year.”

"This is our first big mandate - coming from experience in cities as diverse as Chongqing, Shanghai, Istanbul and Turin on the one hand, and the UK on the other through the Lateral side”.

He also told Place Northwest: “We are looking forward to designing and delivering a successful future for The Trafford Centre, with our immediate priorities being to help support brands through the reopening and welcome back our customers to this very popular retail and leisure destination”.

Meanwhile, Savills has been retained as property manager of the Trafford Centre, which is anchored by Selfridges, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer and has around 200 stores.

Lateral Property Group, based in Harrogate, is also behind plans to build a new 600,000 squ ft shopping centre, called Axiom, near Castleford in Yorkshire. However, work on the venture, first announced in 2018, has yet to start. Major retailers Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next and Boots are all understood to have signed up to the project.

But Campbell confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that the Axiom project is still going ahead and will be the “future of retail”.

"It's very much still happening, probably a bit delayed", he said, adding: "There's a fairly large pandemic that's got in the way”.