International briefs

From the New York February issue: The Drake Circus shopping mall in southwest England sold for $372 million last month, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The 425,000-square-foot mall in Plymouth is British Land Company’s second-largest purchase in almost four years. The selling price will result in a net yield of 6 percent, according to a statement released by British Land, a real estate investment trust. Overall, real estate advisers including Cushman & Wakefield said the value of U.K. shopping center purchases announced or completed last year has hit a four-year high. The largest British retail landlord, Capital Shopping Centres Group, agreed to pay $2.5 billion in shares in November and assumed the debt for the Trafford Centre mall in Manchester. In December, Simon Property Group, the U.S.’s largest mall owner, offered $4.6 billion in cash to buy out Capital Shopping Centres, but the deal was refused. Click here for more real estate headlines from around the globe. Compiled by Lisa Euker