Landsec is in talks to buy all of Liverpool One, the major UK mall, after expanding negotiations to take in both sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's 69% stake and the stakes of the remaining investors, CoStar News understands.
ADIA appointed JLL last year to seek a buyer for its stake in the 1.6 million-square-foot mall. According to the most recent valuation at the time, the centre was valued at around £520 million. CoStar News subsequently revealed that Landsec was leading the parties expressing interest in the stake with a bid at around £350 million representing a circa 8% yield.
By March of this year it was widely reported that the talks had ended.
Last week CoStar News revealed Landsec has returned to talks to buy the ADIA stake in what would be one of the largest UK shopping centre transactions in years. Market sources this week suggested that Landsec is close to going under offer to buy all interests in the mall with a price of at least £500 million expected to be paid.
The Duke of Westminster's property company Grosvenor developed the mall. It has a 23% stake held in its Grosvenor Liverpool Fund and manages the site. The remaining investors are understood to comprise Federated Hermes, Santander and Redevco.
Liverpool One has over 200 shops, more than 500 apartments, two hotels, 25 restaurants, a 14-screen Odeon cinema, four office buildings, a five-acre public park, 2,000 car parking spaces and a public transport interchange.
For a review of Grosvenor's challenging but ultimately successful development of Liverpool One, which opened in 2008 as the global financial crisis got under way, click here.
Landsec has been pressing on with a strategy to sell around £4 billion of mature assets and assets in sectors its sees as non-core, such as retail parks and leisure as well as some London offices. It is reinvesting in growth opportunities, which include its pipeline of London offices and major retail. It has sold around £2 billion over the past two years.
In a statement to CoStar News, Landsec said: "We’ve said consistently since the launch of our strategic review in October 2020 that we are considering various acquisition and disposal opportunities that make financial and strategic sense to the business. Unfortunately we’re not able to comment on individual opportunities or market speculation at this time.”
Grosvenor and JLL did not comment.