Dundas & Wilson has landed the headline role on the £400m sale of a Scottish shopping centre in one of the largest ever property transaction north of the border.

Dundas is acting for existing client Land Securities on its sale of the East Kilbride shopping centre near Glasgow to property outfit PropInvest.

Land Securities forged a joint vehicle with UK market rival British Land, dubbed The Scottish Retail Property Limited Partnership, to oversee the site in 2004. HBJ Gateley is acting for longstanding client British Land.

The deal, which closed late last month, sees the London-based PropInvest acquire the 1.2 million sq ft site, which comprises six linked shopping malls and is the largest covered shopping centre in Scotland.

Real estate partner Allan Wernham led the deal team for Dundas while HBJ Gateley Scottish property chief Miles Ede took the lead role for British Land. Brodies real estate partner Nick Scott acted for PropInvest.

Ede told Legal Week: "Real estate has been a real growth sector for us in Scotland for a couple of years. Property is the place to be right now."

The sale marks the latest high-profile deal in the Scottish retail property market after US-based Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker last year scooped a mandate for Canadian developer Ivanhoe Cambridge on its £522m acquisition of three shopping malls, including the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow.

Prestigious Glasgow mall Prince's Square was also the subject of a high-profile auction in recent months.