Welsh property tycoon gets slice of Asda action
One of the richest men in Wales, Peter Thomas, has bought an Asda supermarket. Mr Thomas, through his property development company Atlantic Property Developments, has acquired a building – which is occupied by Asda on a 20-year lease – at Warth Park in Northamptonshire.
The Cardiff office of international property advisory firm Savills acted for Atlantic on the deal. The property investment in the store has been bought from Roxhill for £3.97m. The store extends to 14,532 sq ft. Mr Thomas’ property firm has interests both in the UK and internationally. It recently bought a building in Queen Street in the centre of Cardiff which is occupied by coffee chain Starbucks.
Merthyr-born Mr Thomas is also chairman of professional rugby region the Cardiff Blues.
With his brother Sir Stanley Thomas, he made millions when selling the family-owned business Peter’s Savoury Products to Grand Metropolitan in 1988 for £75m.
Ross Griffin, investment director at Savills, Cardiff, said: “We are pleased to have secured the Asda at Warth Park for our client. This was a rare opportunity for our client to acquire a high-quality foodstore in a location that benefits from a large catchment population by way of an off-market transaction.”
Craig Davies of Atlantic said: “We were delighted to have had the opportunity to acquire the Asda food store. It is a brand-new high-quality building in an excellent location with a long-dated lease that fitted our investment rationale perfectly.”
Atlantic Property Developments also recently acquired 4-6 Queen Street from an undisclosed private property company.
Recently let to Starbucks on a new 10-year lease, the retail unit is in a prime location in the heart of the city, with nearby tenants including Primark, M&S, Trailfinders and Waitrose.
The building, set over a ground and two upper floors, was recently refurbished.
The new Starbucks, at the site of what was formerly a branch of bank Santander, opened last month in an investment creating 14 new jobs.
It is the coffee chain’s 15th store in Cardiff. It also has three other stores in Queen Street.
Savills also acted for Atlantic on the Starbucks deals.