Hammerson has confirmed that it is in discussions to sell its retail parks portfolio to Canadian giant Brookfield.
The portfolio of seven parks in Falkirk, Didcot, Middlesbrough, St Helens, Telford, Merthyr Tydfil and Rugby is understood to be being sold for around £350m.
It is the second attempt to sell the portfolio over the past 12 months. Orion European Real Estate Fund V agreed to buy the properties for around £400m in February 2020 but walked away from the deal in April, losing £21m.
Hammerson said the sale was part of its strategy of making “asset disposals in liquid markets to further strengthen the balance sheet”. The REIT said it had achieved £73m of gross proceeds from sales already this year.
It added that there was “no certainty” the sale would take place or on what terms a sale might occur but said it would provide an update in due course.
Hammerson’s retail parks have been relatively resilient during the crisis, with the landlord collecting 64% of rent due, compared with 36% at its shopping centres, but new chief executive Rita-Rose Gagné told EG last month that “nothing was off the table” when its came to strategic disposals
“You don’t fall in love with your assets… if the price is right, all assets are on the table,” she said.
Hammerson’s revenue and profit plummeted during 2020, with losses of £1.7bn and net rental income down by almost 50% at £158m. The REIT was also forced to write down the value of its portfolio by almost one quarter to £6.3bn.
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