Hammersons’s £3.4bn bid for Intu

Birmingham's Bullring owned by Hammersons — Birmingham’s Bullring owned by Hammerson

Hammerson, Britain’s biggest shopping centre owners are in £3.4bn all share offer talks with Intu to create a £21bn pan-European real estate giant. The deal would bring together ownership of the UK’s largest malls – including London’s Brent Cross, Birmingham’s Bullring, Bicester Village in Oxfordshire and Manchester’s Trafford Centre. The deal will hand Hammerson Intu’s portfolio of shopping centres in the UK and Spain including Lakeside in Essex and Metro centre in Gateshead.

Combining the two companies would create UK’s largest property group and the second largest retail owner in Europe after Unibail. The price offered by Hammerson reflects a discount of over third off the value of its properties after a predicted slowdown in a UK retail market which is shifting online.

Over 400 stores are reviewing closures, including banks like RBS and Lloyds as well as Thomas Cook and Toys R Us, have all revealed plans to trim real estate portfolios.