UK real estate giant Hammerson announced this week that it has sold a 50% stake in the WestQuay Shopping Centre in Southampton to GIC Real Estate, the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation for £299 mln (almost EUR 444 mln). Following the sale, Hammerson and GIC Real Estate will hold equal interests in a joint venture partnership, with Hammerson acting as asset manager.
UK real estate giant Hammerson announced this week that it has sold a 50% stake in the WestQuay Shopping Centre in Southampton to GIC Real Estate, the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation for £299 mln (almost EUR 444 mln). Following the sale, Hammerson and GIC Real Estate will hold equal interests in a joint venture partnership, with Hammerson acting as asset manager.
WestQuay will therefore be returning to the original status it had as a 50-50 joint venture when it opened in 2000. Hammerson became the sole owner when it bought out its original partner, Barclays Bank, four years later for £203 mln (equivalent to around EUR 294 mln at that time). Hammerson will use the proceeds of the sale to finance its ongoing development programme. Chief executive John Richards said the transaction was in line with the company’s strategy of recycling capital.
With 76,200 m2 of retail space and tenants including Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, WestQuay generates rent of around EUR 36 mln a year. The joint venture is a further demonstration of GIC's ambition to increase its exposure to UK retail property. In March this year it bought 40% of the Metro-Centre mall located in Gateshead, near Newcastle, from Liberty International for EUR 623 mln and in 2005 it took a 17.5% stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.