Liberty to demerge malls operations
Liberty International, the UK’s largest shopping centre operator, has announced plans to separate its retail operations from the rest of its commercial property business, with both companies to trade on the London Stock Exchange.
The group says the move will improve shareholder value. Chairman Patrick Burgess said the demerger was in response “to what the Liberty International board considers to be a changing approach to investment in real estate, both in the equity markets and in the property market, requiring greater focus and more active management.”
The demerger will put CEO David Fischel in charge of the Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSC) with a £5bn portfolio, while Ian Hawksworth will head the Capital & Counties Properties (C&C) group with a portfolio of £1.24bn. CSC will remain a tax-efficient REIT while C&C, which will be mainly focused on Central London, will be a non-REIT property company. The split is expected to take place in May after a shareholders’ meeting in April.
Liberty International today reported weaker than expected results for 2009 with NAV falling to 464p per share at the end of December last year, from 745p a year earlier. The recession has hit the retail sector hard and this is the group’s key tenant base. Underlying earnings excluding valuations declined to £91m from £105m a year earlier.
