Frasers is in the running to add another shopping centre to its portfolio

The sports and premium fashion retailer is in talks to buy Fremlin Walk, an outdoor shopping centre in Maidstone, Kent, as it diversifies its property portfolio in the UK.

The 350,000 sq ft shopping centre was put on sale for £25m by owner M&G Real Estate who acquired the scheme for £110m in 2014.

Fremin Walk is home to retailers including H&M, Boots, JD Sports and Pandora with an annual gross income of £4.3m.

Frasers is set to open a multi-brand anchor shop there with Frasers, Flannels and Sports Direct at the same location in autumn this year.

The group’s shopping centre acquisitions in the UK included the £58m purchase of The Mall shopping centre in Luton, Bedfordshire (now rebranded to Luton Point), the £30m purchase of the Overgate shopping centre in Dundee, Junction 32 in Castleford, West Yorkshire, and Frenchgate shopping centre in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, last month.

Frasers is also in talks with The Crown Estate to buy the 630,000 sq ft Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter, Devon.

Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers, told The Times last month: “The opportunity for Frasers is to create anchor department stores and shopping centres where Frasers can take a floor, which is a lot more productive, say 30,000 to 50,000 sq ft, and then we can utilise the other floors for other areas of our business such as Flannels, Sports Direct or the gym business, creating a more productive and meaningful destination for our business.”