Hammerson has decided not to sell its 50% stake in Queensgate shopping centre in Peterborough, a centre it owns in joint venture with Aviva Investors.
It is also not progressing with the sale of two retail parks – the Orchard Centre in Didcot and Victoria Retail Park in Nottingham.
Hammerson began looking at the potential sales of the three assets in the spring but following the successful sale of three large assets in London, Paris and Berlin for a combined £680m and the £584m raised through a rights issue it has paid down enough debt for it not to have to sell these assets.
Hammerson earlier this month completed the sale of a 75% stake in its Bishop’s Square development to the Oman Investment Fund (OIF) for £445m reflecting a net initial yield of around 5.8%.
Last month it exchanged contracts for the sale of Forum Steglitz shopping centre in Berlin to Europa Capital Partners for €70m and early this month it sold its Les Trois Quartiers retail and office property in Paris for €210m to MGPA Europe Fund III, a fund managed by private equity real estate advisor MGPA.
John Richards, Hammerson chief executive, said at the time of the Bishop’s Square completion: ‘Our recently announced property disposals together with the earlier rights issue will reduce the group's net debt by around £1.2 billion.
‘Following completion of these asset sales, net debt will be approximately £2.1 bn.
