Institutional landlord Hammerson has sold a Gloucester retail park for £54m to the local authority, as it continues its asset disposal programme in order to balance its books.
The landlord confirmed the sale of St Oswald’s Retail Park in Gloucester to a local council for £54m – a price it said reflects a “net initial yield of 8.5%” and 8% below the June 30, 2019 value.
The owner of retail flagship sites such as the Bullring acquired and developed the site in 2005 and said it had since “increased the overall number of units on the park to improve the brand mix”.
The 225,000 sq ft centre hosts retailers such as Homesense, B&Q and Argos.
The sale of St Oswald’s brings the total number accrued through asset disposals by Hammerson this year to £577m, exceeding its minimum disposal target for the year set at £500m.
Of that total figure, £423m came from the sale of the Italie Deux flagship centre in Paris, which it disposed of in July.
Like many other institutional landlords, Hammerson’s retail income has been severely affected this financial year by the large number of retail CVAs and administrations.
At its interim results in July, Hammerson’s net rental income on UK flagships was down 6.8% and valuations had shrunk 4.4%.
To address this, Hammerson has been focused on reducing its exposure across its schemes to mid-range fashion brands and department stores, focusing instead on diversifying its tenant mix with leisure, food and beverage operators as well as more contemporary fashion and co-working space.
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