Meadowhall: Popular Sheffield shopping mall sold off by owner British Land after 25 years

The company which has owned Meadowhall for the last 25 years has sold its stake in the popular centre.

British Land, which was reported to have paid around £1 billion for the mall near the M1 back in 1999, announced it has sold its shares in the venue to a Norwegian firm.

British Land owned 50 per cent of the centre, but says it has now sold that stake for £360million.

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It says the sell-off is In line with its strategy to focus on retail parks and reduce exposure to covered shopping centres,

It has been bought by Norges Bank Investment Management, and the deal follows the sale of some ancillary land by the Joint Venture for £7m (British Land share) earlier this year. Together these deals value the entirety of the Meadowhall Estate at £734m.

The sale is expected to be completed in July this year and the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes including reinvestment into retail parks. 

Norges acquired an initial 50 per cent stake in Meadowhall in 2012.

Simon Carter, chief executive of British Land, said: “We have had a successful partnership with Norges over many years and are delighted to continue to work alongside them as asset managers of the centre.

“Following the sale of Meadowhall, 93 per cent of our portfolio is now in our preferred segments of retail parks, campuses and London urban logistics.

“We will continue to grow our retail park portfolio; with low capex requirements parks offer attractive cash returns and at 99 per cent occupancy we are delivering strong rental growth.”

British Land will still manage the venue, and will earn fees for doing it.

Jayesh Patel, head of UK real estate at Norges Bank Investment Management, said:  "Despite being out of favour, we remain confident in the prime shopping centre sector, where rents and yields have rebased significantly. We are pleased to have the ability to acquire an additional stake in Meadowhall.

“We are pleased to have the ability to acquire an additional stake in Meadowhall."

Meadowhall first opened in 1990, and was originally built by developers Eddie Healey and Paul Sykes, who sold it to British Land.