Hammerson confirms Silverburn £140m sale talks

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 29, 2021

Retail landlord Hammerson confirmed on Monday that it’s in talks to sell the major Silverburn shopping mall in Glasgow with a potential price of £140 million. The mall was named Britain's best shopping centre two years ago at the Revo Ace Awards. 

The giant property company issued a brief stock exchange statement following recent press peculation. It said that “as highlighted at the company's half-year results in August, disposals of non-core assets remains a near-term priority to continue to strengthen the balance sheet, re-balance the portfolio and to enable the group to re-cycle capital for investment”.

It owns Silverburn along with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in a 50/50 joint venture and it said there’s no guarantee that a transaction will take place.

But investors clearly believe it will as the firm’s shares moved upwards on Monday morning on the news. However, any optimism has to be tempered by the fact that the company actually paid £300 million for the property back in 2009. 

Hammerson also owns the bullring in Birmingham and the popular Bicester Village designer outlet shopping centre. But it has been hit hard by falling retail valuations in recent years as consumers migrated to online shopping and more recently, the pandemic devastated retail. Both of these issues dented the valuations of even the most prestigious shopping malls.

Assuming the company does manage to raise £140 million from the sale, it will come on top of the hundreds of millions it has already raised from other pretty sales. 

The company has been selling non-core properties in recent periods, including its retail parks and its stake in Europe-based VIA Outlets.