Hermes Investment Management, the £30.8 billion manager, and AustralianSuper, joint owners of centre:mk, have announced the high street fashion retailer, River Island has opened the long anticipated upsized store at centre:mk.

Located at 40-42 Midsummer Arcade, the new regional flagship store was designed by an in-house team to reflect the brand’s latest shop-fit. The brand’s shop-fit is continuously evolving and the new store will feature elements of design features that will further enhance the existing store format.

Situated adjacent to JD Sports, the launch creates a 20,000 sq ft presence for the brand, stocking their stylish and affordable ranges of clothing, footwear and accessories for men and women.

Ed Sellick, on behalf of centre:mk joint owners, Hermes Investment Management and AustralianSuper, commented: “This exciting flagship store is a fantastic addition to our retail line-up. The store will boost our offering of affordable on–trend fashion, which is set to be further enhanced over the next 12 months, and will help ensure we continue to be the retail and leisure destination of choice in the region.”

Ashleigh Skinner at River Island added: “centre:mk is one of our top performing locations in the UK. Our decision to upsize here was an easy one to make following the impressive amount of investment at the destination, in addition to the centre’s strong surrounding catchment and excellent line-up of neighbouring brands.”

The River Island opening follows the launch of Footasylum’s dedicated womenswear store at 66 Midsummer Arcade last year, only its second such standalone concept in the UK. Plans for a new 75,000 sq ft Primark store were also revealed in the autumn, the single largest letting at centre:mk for 25 years. In addition, Pravins, Tessuti, Scotts, Acutis, Beauty Base, JD Sports and Molton Brown have all opened new stores at centre:mk in the last 12 months.

centre:mk has also undergone extensive investment by joint owners AustralianSuper and Hermes Investment Management, with £60 million of enhancements over the last two years, including the recently completed £10 million refurbishment of Sunset Walk, and the award-winning Deer Walk customer experience services that were unveiled to the public in June 2017.

MMX Retail and CBRE acted for centre:mk. Harper Dennis Hobbs represented River Island.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Nick Thornton at Aver on 07808940208, or via nickthornton@aver.uk.com

Amy Cassidy at Aver on 07786025417, or via amycassidy@aver.uk.com

Notes to Editors:

Hermes Investment Management

We are an asset manager with a difference. We believe that, while our primary purpose is helping beneficiaries retire better by providing world class active investment management and stewardship services, our role goes further. We believe we have a duty to deliver holistic returns – outcomes for our clients that go far beyond the financial and consider the impact our decisions have on society, the environment and the wider world.

Our goal is to help people invest better, retire better and create a better society for all.

We offer clients access to a broad range of specialist, high conviction investment teams with £30.8 billion* assets under management. In Hermes EOS, we have one of the industry’s leading engagement resource, advising on £317.1 billion* of assets.

Hermes' investment solutions include:

Private markets – Infrastructure, private debt, private equity and real estate
High active share equities - Asia, global emerging markets, Europe, US, global, and small and mid
cap
Credit - Absolute return, global high yield, multi strategy and global investment grade
Multi asset - Multi asset inflation
Stewardship – Active engagement, intelligent voting, sustainable development and advocacy
* Please note the total AUM figure includes £6.0bn of assets managed or under an advisory agreement by Hermes GPE LLP (“HGPE”), a joint venture between Hermes Fund Managers Limited ("HFM") and GPE Partner Limited. HGPE is an independent entity and not part of the Hermes group. £76.3m of total group AUM figure represents HFM mandates under advice. Source: Hermes as at 30 September 2017 with the exception of two portfolios totalling £12.5m valued as at 30 June 2017.
About AustralianSuper
AustralianSuper manages more than $120 billion of members’ assets on behalf of more than two million members from across 220,000 businesses. One in 10 working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest industry super fund.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2014 revenue). The Company has more than 52,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 370 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.

River Island reveals regional flagship at centre:mk

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