Retail property agent Lunson Mitchenell is to expand its international presence by joining United Partners, a European network of independent retail specialists.

In a tie-up announced today Lunson Mitchenell will pool its services with United’s partners: The Retail Consulting Group from France, Larry Smith Italia from Italy and LaSBA, which operates in Spain and Portugal.

The network will provide Lunson Mitchenell with research, valuation and shopping centre management services from these partners.


Parallels
John Griffin, director at Lunson Mitchenall, said: ‘There are strong parallels in Europe to the UK retail investment market five years ago. There is an increasing tenant demand, shopping centre assets that have not been actively managed yet are becoming more and more sophisticated.

‘This coupled with higher entry yields, lower borrowing costs and a less risky currency play shows why more UK investors are picking up assets across Europe.’


Actively looking
Explaining why the firm joined United, he said: ‘Our clients have been actively looking into Europe and have been asking us to work with them to source deals and advise on improving shopping centre assets they have aquired.’