UK-BASED property company Liberty International, which has a significant shareholding in SA, has been busy in recent months with a variety of property transactions.

Apart from making handsome profits on some of its deals, Liberty International, a top performer in terms of financial results, said in June it had enough UK retail developments to keep it busy for much of the next 10 years.

The latest transaction involved Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty International, agreeing to acquire a further 15% interest in Eldon Square Shopping Centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from the Shell Pension Trust for £45m.

The acquisition brings CSC's ownership of the shopping centre to 45%, with Shell retaining a 15% interest and The City of Newcastle owning a 40% stake.

CSC MD John Abel said Eldon Square had been rated the eighthbest shopping centre in the UK by independent research organisation Trevor Wood Associates in association with retail agents Churston Heard.

Final approvals have now also been granted for three major enhancement schemes at the centre, which will provide a substantial amount of new retail space.

The plans provide for a highquality bus station and a new mall at the northern end of Eldon Square; a revitalised Old Eldon Square with additional shops, outward-facing restaurants and improvements to public space.

Colin Young, fund manager of Old Mutual's South African-listed property funds, says the acquisition is a positive move. Eldon Square is "very much" a middlemarket centre and there is a lot of commuter and shopper traffic, says Young.

In addition, the centre appeals to retailers.

This is just one of several transactions concluded by the various arms of Liberty International.

In June, Capital & Counties USA, the American subsidiary of Liberty International, sold a prime San Francisco property at a 30% premium to its market value as at December 31 last year.

At the time Capital & Counties MD John Saggers said Ghirardelli Square, a San Francisco waterfront shopping centre, had been sold for about $45m.

In mid-October last year, Liberty International announced it had agreed to sell its 25,5% interest in London Stock Exchange-listed Great Portland Estates at 297,5p a share for a total consideration of £123,4m.

The move was welcomed by analysts as it freed up Liberty International to invest in its property redevelopment programme.

At the end of October last year, Capital & Counties also made three property acquisitions worth more than $92m.

Two of the purchases were retail-related, which is positive for Liberty International's growth, as the retail property market in the US is in a boom phase.

In July, Liberty International chairman Donald Gordon said the company's development programme positioned it to continue its long-term track record of measured growth.

He said the potential for projects not yet committed amounted to about £1bn.