British Land has exchanged contracts on the sale of its 50% stake in Meadowhall Shopping Centre to joint venture partner Norges Bank Investment Management for £360m.
Following the sale of some ancillary land by the partners earlier this year, the deals value the entirety of the Meadowhall Estate at £734m – 3% above the September 2023 book value.
British Land will remain as asset manager of the shopping centre, which it will continue to earn fees for in line with current terms.
The transaction is expected to complete in July 2024 and British Land said it would use the proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes including reinvestment into retail parks.
Simon Carter, chief executive of British Land, said: “We have had a successful partnership with Norges over many years and are delighted to continue to work alongside them as asset managers of the centre. Following the sale of Meadowhall, 93% of our portfolio is now in our preferred segments of retail parks, campuses and London urban logistics.
“We will continue to grow our retail park portfolio; with low capex requirements parks offer attractive cash returns and at 99% occupancy we are delivering strong rental growth.”
