Fashion giant Next is to open a store at the Malvern Retail Park following a £37.1 million takeover of the site.

The Roman Way development has been bought by The Hercules Unit Trust, the UK's largest specialist property unit trust.

Pillar Property, Hercules' property adviser, has already let to Next the unit currently occupied by Powerhouse.

Hercules has a property portfolio of over £2 billion, comprising 23 retail parks. Its key tenants include Next, Boots, Arcadia, Argos, WH Smith, MFI and B&Q.

Pillar Property's director, Andrew Jones, said the acquisition of Malvern Retail Park represented an excellent opportunity to buy a site with the flexibility of planning permission for any general retail purpose.

"This will hopefully enable us to actively manage the park and utilise our retailer relationships to enhance the tenant line up and improve rental values," he said.

"We have taken step one of this process by securing Next as a new key tenant."

Next, which has 350 stores in the UK and Eire and 50 franchise stores overseas, has agreed to pay rent of £24 per square foot for the 8,000 square foot unit. Powerhouse pays only £9 per square foot.

Simon Smith, economic development manager for Malvern Hills District Council said the take-over and the arrival of Next should be welcomed.

"If they (Hercules) are bringing in better quality high street brands then that's got to be positive in terms of drawing people in," he said. "The key thing is that we then try to develop the relationship with them and Great Malvern town centre."

A spokesman for Next said it was too early to comment on when the store might open.

The retail park was formerly owned by The Pensions Trust. Current tenants include Matalan, Argos, Brantano, Halfords, Poundstretcher and Focus DIY.