Acquisition

Capital & Regional PLC
22 January 2003






                                                               22nd January 2003





                A CONSORTIUM COMPRISING PILLAR, HERCULES, MORLEY AND
                   CAPITAL & REGIONAL ON BEHALF OF THE JUNCTION
                ACQUIRES £700M KINGFISHER RETAIL PROPERTY PORTFOLIO


A consortium led by Pillar Property plc comprising themselves, the Hercules Unit
Trust ("HUT"), Morley Fund Management ("Morley") and Capital & Regional plc on
behalf of The Junction Limited Partnership ("JLP") has today exchanged contracts
to acquire a substantial portfolio of retail parks and development sites from
Chartwell, a subsidiary of Kingfisher plc, for a total consideration of £696m.



Pillar will acquire two key development sites, one at Farnborough and the other
being the M8 Shopping Park, Manchester. In particular, the Manchester site,
which benefits from a c.313,000 sq ft planning consent, reinforces the company's
objective to maintain focus on developing larger shopping parks with open A1
consent.



HUT will acquire four prime retail parks at Glasgow; North Shields, Newcastle;
Walsall and Guildford. Following this acquisition the Hercules portfolio will
comprise of 28 retail parks totalling over 5 million sq ft with a gross value of
£1.8bn. The HUT acquisitions are subject to the consent of HUT unit holders.



Morley will be acquiring the largest existing value element of this portfolio,
comprising over 900,000 sq ft in 10 well located retail park/cluster schemes
including London (3), Cardiff, Bristol, Crawley, Worthing, and Brighton.
Following this deal Morley will have in excess of £2bn gross value of
Out-of-Town Retail assets under management.



JLP will acquire four prime destination retail parks situated in Bristol (2),
Glasgow and Worcester, together with a development opportunity in
Stoke-on-Trent.  Following this acquisition, The Junction portfolio will
comprise 20 destination retail parks totalling over 3.6 million sq ft with a
gross value of approximately £700m.



Commenting on the transaction, Pillar's Chairman Raymond Mould said:



"We're delighted to have successfully led the consortium that has secured this
significant transaction particularly after the competitive circumstances which
arose through the sale process. Our consortium provided the perfect solution for
Kingfisher to dispose of their retail park assets satisfying the appetite of the
acquiring consortium members.



"The transaction significantly increases Pillar's development pipeline to 1.3m
sq ft, taking the end value of the retail parks under development to over £800m.
We are especially pleased to secure these sites as developing new out-of-town
shopping parks is increasingly difficult due to planning restrictions.
Similarly, as an investor in Hercules, we are pleased to have secured four prime
retail parks that complement the existing portfolio and offer the potential for
value enhancement through active asset management.




The Junction's Chief Executive, Andrew Lewis-Pratt commented:



"We are delighted to have been part of this successful consortium in acquiring
the largest portfolio of retail parks to have been marketed in the UK. This
acquisition is further evidence of our stated expansion strategy and complements
our existing portfolio of 16 destination retail parks."



There are many opportunities to enhance value within this portfolio and we
relish the opportunity to bring our skills to this portfolio."



Capital & Regional's Chief Executive, Martin Barber commented:



"We are now in the growth phase of the funds that we have under management and I
am delighted that we have been involved in this major transfer of assets in the
retail park sector."



Morley Fund Manager, Mick Wheatley commented:



"The properties that we are acquiring on behalf of our various client funds, are
all in strong Southern catchment locations, where growth prospects are forecast
to be well above the sector average.  In addition we have identified a good
number of short/medium-term opportunities for further value enhancement."



                                     -ENDS-


For further information:


Pillar Property plc                                                         Tel: [phone]

Raymond Mould, Chairman
Valentine Beresford, Director


For further information on Pillar, please visit www.pillarproperty.com

The Junction Limited Partnership
Andrew Lewis-Pratt, Chief Executive                                         Tel: [phone]


For further information on JLP, please visit www.thejunction-uk.com

Capital & Regional plc
Martin Barber, Chief Executive                                              Tel: [phone]

Morley Fund Management
Mick Wheatley, Fund Manager                                                 Tel: [phone]

For further information on Morley, please visit www.morleyfm.com

For Capital & Regional/The Junction Limited Partnership
Hudson Sandler
Michael Sandler / Andrew Hayes                                              Tel: [phone]

For Pillar
Gavin Anderson and Company                                                  Tel: [phone]
Neil Bennett / Charlotte Stone


For Hercules
Financial Dynamics                                                          Tel: [phone]
Dido Laurimore/Stephanie Highett










Notes to editors:



Pillar will acquire:


Farnborough retail site                                                                          78,000 sq ft
Temple Shopping Park, Manchester                                                                312,717 sq ft

                                                                         TOTAL                  390,717 sq ft



Pillar is the UK's largest retail park operator, with 6.3 million sq. ft. on 34
retail parks under management.



The majority of Pillar's investments are in the form of units in the Hercules
Unit Trust (of which all the assets are retail parks). At 30 December 2002,
Pillar owned 45.2% of Hercules. It also retains a 36% stake in the City of
London Office Unit Trust (of which all assets are London office properties).
Pillar is also property adviser to both these trusts which, as at 31 March 2002
had, in aggregate, investment portfolios of approximately £2bn. Pillar receives
management fees on the trust portfolio and performance fees dependent upon trust
investment performance exceeding certain benchmarks. In addition to its
investment in the trusts, Pillar also has a number of sole investments in other
retail parks.



Hercules Unit Trust ("HUT") will acquire:


Great Western Retail Park, Glasgow                                                              275,110 sq ft
Silverlink Retail & Leisure Park, North Shields, Newcastle                                      203,000 sq ft
Crown Wharf Retail Park, Walsall                                                                172,000 sq ft
B&Q and Comet, Ladymead, Guildford                                                               50,080 sq ft
                                                                         TOTAL                  603,404 sq ft



Hercules was created in September 2000 as a closed-ended Jersey property unit
trust to invest in properties in major warehouse or shopping park locations in
the United Kingdom.  Its investment objective is to achieve an annual total
return in excess of 1 per cent above the IPD Retail Warehouse benchmark over the
life of the trust.  Hercules has an initial life of 10 years from September
2000, subject to any extension authorised by Hercules unitholders.



The manager of Hercules is Schroder Property Managers (Jersey) Limited, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Schroders plc.   The trustees of Hercules are The
Royal Bank of Scotland Trust Company (Jersey) Limited and RBSI Trust Company
Limited.  The trustees and the manager are regulated by the Jersey Financial
Services Commission.



The Junction Limited Partnership will acquire:




Blackpole Road, Worcester                                                                        89,500 sq ft
Abbotsinch Retail Park, Paisley                                                                 187,000 sq ft
Brislington Retail Park, Bristol                                                                145,000 sq ft
Imperial Park, Bristol *                                                                        180,000 sq ft
                                                                         TOTAL                  601,500 sq ft

* Imperial Park has the benefit of a planning consent for a further 150,000 sq
ft of retail floor    space.



The Junction Limited Partnership is a retail park investment fund which was
formed in January 2002 by Capital & Regional plc and clients of Morley Fund
Management.





Clients of Morley Fund Management will acquire:




Pavillion Retail Park Brighton                                                 72,459

London Road, Crawley                                                           78,361

Ladymead, Guildford                                                            50,082
New Malden, London                                                             51,511
Downlands Retail Park, Worthing                                                59,704
Cannon Lane, Tonbridge                                                         57,232
Yeading Hayes                                                                  125,201
Cardiff Gate Retail Park, Cardiff                                              149,964
Cribbs Causeway, Bristol                                                       126,544
Beckton Retail Park, London                                                    147,394
                                                                         TOTAL 918,452 sq ft



Morley Fund Management is the UK based fund management arm of Aviva plc,
managing in excess of £100bn of funds across equities, property and fixed income
investments. The property team at Morley manages in excess of £11bn of UK
Property assets, making Morley one of the largest property fund managers in the
UK. Morley has been at the forefront of innovation in limited property
partnerships and has launched six other specialist sector based funds, including
the Ashtenne Industrial Fund, The Junction and The Mall Fund.


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