Hammerson plc (LON: HMSO) has exchanged contracts on the sale of St Oswald’s Retail Park, Gloucester, to a local authority for £54m. The sale price reflects a net initial yield of 8.5%, and is 8% below the 30th June 2019 book value.
The 20,900m2 scheme, which is located to the north of Gloucester city centre offers a range of bulky goods, retail and leisure space over two terraces. Flagship tenants include Homesense, B&Q and Wren Kitchens.
Hammerson originally developed the site in 2005, and has since increased the overall number of units on the park to improve the brand mix.
Following this transaction, Hammerson has achieved £577m of disposals in 2019, exceeding its minimum disposal target, of in excess of £500m, for the financial year. This includes the sale of a major stake in its Italie Deux flagship destination in Paris for £423m, announced in July, as well as additional retail park disposals.
David Atkins, Hammerson plc Chief Executive, said:
“Despite a challenging investment market, we are successfully executing disposals in line with our priority to reduce debt and strengthen our balance sheet. These transactions also give us the flexibility to capitalise on the opportunities we see in the market, particularly with regards to our City Quarters pipeline, which is core to the future direction and success of our business.”
Hammerson create vibrant, continually evolving spaces, in and around thriving European cities, with a focus on flagship retail destinations and Premium Outlets. As of 30th June 2019, our portfolio of high-quality venues had a value of £9.5 billion and includes 21 flagship destinations, 12 convenient retail parks and investments in 20 premium outlet villages, through our partnership with Value Retail and the VIA Outlets joint venture. Key retail venues include, Bullring & Grand Central, Birmingham, Bicester Village, Oxfordshire, Freeport Lisboa Fashion Outlet, Lisbon, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin; and Les Terrasses du Port, Marseille. We manage over 2,000 brand relationships and during trading hours, over 80,000 people visit our shopping centres hourly across our flagship destinations in the UK, France & Ireland.
