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(Alliance News) - Hammerson PLC on Wednesday said it has sealed its exit from the UK retail parks sector after agreeing a deal to sell seven assets for GBP330 million to Brookfield.
Hammerson had confirmed talks with the Toronto-based property and private equity firm on Monday last week. The Sunday Times had reported that the London-based retail property investor to sell the retail park portfolio for GBP350 million, in order to pay down debt.
Hammerson on Wednesday said the GBP330 million sale price is an 8% discount to the portfolio's book value of GBP357 million, as of December 31.
"This transaction concludes Hammerson's exit from the UK retail parks sector," the company added.
"As previously announced, Hammerson has also recently disposed of Brent South Shopping Park (GBP22 million as Hammerson share) and its minority interests in Nicetoile and Espace Saint Quentin for GBP73 million. These were in line with 31 December 2020 valuations."
The seven retail parks in England, Scotland and Wales are in Falkirk, Didcot, Middlesbrough, St Helens, Telford, Merthyr Tydfil and Rugby.
The latest sale means Hammerson has netted GBP403 million from disposals in 2021. The cash will go towards bolstering its balance sheet and trimming net debt, which stood at GBP2.2 billion at the end of 2020.
Last month, Hammerson revealed its pretax loss had more than doubled to GBP1.73 billion in 2020 from GBP779.3 million in 2019.
Although it has now left retail parks behind, the company still has stakes in other retail assets such as Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre and the Bicester Village outlets in Oxfordshire.
Hammerson shares were 2.0% higher at 37.02 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon. In Johannesburg, the stock was 2.5% higher at ZAR7.40.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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