London & Stamford Property Plc has put its 50 per cent holding in Meadowhall shopping centre on the market, The Times has reported.
It is believed that London & Stamford has brought in agents from Savills to begin marketing its share of the site, that it owns with a Middle Eastern partner, in the next few months, with the aim of generating £1.6 billion. British Land owns the reminder of the shopping centre and is thought to be mulling selling its stake.
Meadowhall, located near Sheffield, is one of the largest shopping centres in the UK. Its 1.5 million sq. ft. of shopping space attracts 30 million visitors a year.
Yorkshire businessmen Eddie Healey and Paul Sykes built the mall on the site of a former steelworks, and opened it in 1990. British Land purchased it for £1 billion in 1999, before selling half the shares to London & Stamford for £588 million in 2009 in response to the property crash.
The sale process will be watched with interest by those looking to get a measure of the appetite for prime property, despite the current environment in the eurozone.
It is anticipated that purchasing a strongly performing out-of-town shopping centre will appeal to foreign investors with a hunger for trophy assets.
Meadowhall has seen some renovations in the past two years, with its food court being refurbished and the installation of new clothing retailers including Urban Outfitters.
