Hammerson plc (LON:HMSO) have exchanged contracts for the sale of two retail parks, Imperial Retail Park, Bristol and Fife Central Retail Park, Kirkcaldy, for a total consideration of £164m to Capreon. This transaction brings Hammerson’s total proceeds from disposals in 2018 to £300m.
Imperial Retail Park, acquired in 2012 as part of the Junction portfolio, covers a total of 32,200m2 and is the largest retail and leisure destination in South Bristol. The scheme is anchored by B&Q, The Range, HomeSense, M&S Foodhall, Next and Boots, and is currently 97% let.
Fife Central Retail Park, acquired in 2005, covers a total of 30,200m2, is 95% let and anchored by B&Q, Sainsbury’s, M&S Simply Food and Next. Hammerson has actively managed the scheme during its ownership, delivering an extension and implementing key asset management initiatives, including repurposing space formerly occupied by Homebase to create a further four new retail units and two restaurants.
The total sale price represents a net initial yield of 7%, and a discount of approximately 10% to the December 2017 book value.
David Atkins, CEO Hammerson, commented: “We continue to see opportunities to dispose of selected assets in order to better deploy capital on behalf of our shareholders. With £300m of sales achieved this year, we are already over half-way to reaching our planned disposal target for 2018. We look forward to providing a further update on disposals and capital deployment tomorrow when we report our half year results.”
