Eastwood Property Group, the property company run by millionaire bookmaker and former boxing promoter Barney Eastwood, has acquired three significant retail operations in England for £100 million.
The family firm has acquired two Debenhams outlets in Leeds and Norwich and a dual WH Smith and Clinton Cards operation in Cardiff.
The Norwich Debenhams was acquired for £20 million, while the Leeds operation went for £50 million. The WH Smith/Clinton Cards outlet in Cardiff's Queen Street was secured for £30 million.
Joint agents for the three properties, Bristol-based King Sturge and CB Richard Ellis in London, said the stores are in prime positions and attracted strong interest from rival investors. Yields are expected to range from 3.75 per cent to 4.25 per cent before upcoming rent reviews.
Eastwood Group has an extensive commercial property portfolio that includes interests throughout the UK and Ireland. These include the Tower shopping centre in Ballymena, office space in Belfast and retail properties in Scotland, England and Wales.
Its most recent development project is the £250 million Castlebawn scheme in Newtownards. One of the largest private commercial developments in Northern Ireland, Castlebawn is a 70-acre town centre/edge of town retail development which aims to create 2,000 jobs.
Mr Eastwood's is the latest in a line of investments in UK property by Irish individuals and property companies.
Irish investors spent almost €5.5 billion in the UK last year, according to figures compiled by property consultants CB Richard Ellis. This includes the €325 million which David Arnold's D2 Private paid for Woolgate Exchange in the City of London, plus £70 million it paid for a portfolio of HBOS bank branches.
As well as property investments, Mr Eastwood also runs more than 50 bookmakers shops in Northern Ireland. However, due to other business commitments, he no longer has a "hands-on" roll in running the bookmakers chain, which is now managed by one of his sons.
The Belfast-based Eastwood Group is responsible for more than 500 jobs in the North's retail industry.
Mr Eastwood, who has been involved in property development since the 1970s, first came to national prominence in the early 1980s when he managed boxer Barry McGuigan to a world featherweight title.
