PROPERTY group Hammerson has said it is in discussions on a possible sale of the Silverburn shopping centre on the south side of Glasgow for around £140 million.
Hammerson highlighted its intention to sell off "non-core" assets and reduce debt when it announced first-half results during the summer.
READ MORE: Brexit: Why does this Tory Government build barriers to growth?
The company, which holds Silverburn in a 50-50 joint venture with CPPIB, said yesterday: “As highlighted at the company's half-year results in August, disposals of non-core assets remains a near-term priority to continue to strengthen the balance sheet, re-balance the portfolio and to enable the group to re-cycle capital for investment.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Vaccine refusers jeopardise freedom - not governments
Hammerson added: “The company confirms that it is in discussions on terms of a possible disposal of Silverburn, its flagship destination near Glasgow, which is held in a 50/50 JV with CPPIB.
“There can be no certainty that a transaction will take place, but the Company confirms the pricing under discussion is £140m…The company will provide a further update in due course, if appropriate.”
Silverburn was acquired by Hammerson and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for around £300m back in 2009.
Rita-Rose Gagné, chief executive of Hammerson, said when the company announced half-year results in August: "We have continued to respond to the changing landscape during the first half of 2021, which again was impacted by Covid-19. As we emerge from a unique moment in time, I see a pathway to create sustainable value as we transform the business to become more agile and able to anticipate and respond to this change. We own flagship destinations around which we can curate and reshape entire neighbourhoods and city centre spaces for generations to come.
"To realise this opportunity we are focused on continuing to de-lever the balance sheet through disposals of non-core assets, creating a leaner and more agile organisation, driving value in our destinations and accelerating our longer term developments."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here