Capital Shopping Centres is preparing to push ahead with proposals to upgrade its malls in Nottingham after being given the all clear by the Office of Fair Trading.
The OFT launched an investigation into CSC’s £73m acquisition of the 487,000 sq ft Broadmarsh Centre in January to see if the deal had breached competition rules. It cleared the REIT’s acquisition of the shopping centre this week.
CSC agreed to buy Westfield’s 75% interest in the Broadmarsh Centre for £55m early last November. Later that month it acquired the remaining 25% for £18.3m from Possfund Custodian Trustee, a fund managed by LaSalle Investment Management.
The OFT was alerted to the deal because CSC already owns the Victoria Centre in the city, and has submitted plans for a 540,000 sq ft extension to increase the size of the mall to 1.5m sq ft.
A CSC spokesman said: “We are pleased with the outcome of the OFT’s review. This is good news for Nottingham. We can now bring forward proposals for complementary development to upgrade both the Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh, which will also have a regenerative effect on the city as a whole.”
Lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
