LONDON, UK: Hammerson Plc has exchanged or completed sales of six non-core assets for total gross cash proceeds of £92 million since the half year.
This is in line with the Company’s strategy of reducing debt, simplifying the portfolio and generating capital for redeployment.
The largest constituent is the exchange after market close on 14 December 2021 of an unconditional contract for the sale of Silverburn, a 100,000m2 shopping centre near Glasgow, from 50/50 joint venture partners Hammerson and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to entities affiliated with Henderson Park and Eurofund, for £140m cash proceeds.
This represents a 4% discount to 30 June 2021 book value of £147m, and a net initial yield of 9.3%. The transaction is expected to complete in Q1 2022, and a deposit of £40m is currently being held in escrow.
The other five assets sold totalling £22m represent a collection of non-strategic commercial and retail assets which were sold at a premium to 30 June 2021 book values.
The proceeds of these disposals will further strengthen the balance sheet by reducing net debt, ahead of reinvestment in flagship assets for growth.
Together with minority stake disposals of French and UK assets (£73m) and the UK Retail Parks portfolio (£330m) sold in the first half of the year, the transactions announced today take Hammerson’s total gross proceeds from sales in 2021 to £495m.