Hammerson to buy Birmingham's Grand Central for £335m

22nd Jan 2016 07:21

(ShareCast News) - Hammerson said it has exchanged contracts with Birmingham City Council to acquire the new Grand Central shopping centre in Birmingham for £335m.It added that it is in advanced discussions with an existing joint venture partner on other assets about entering into a 50-50 joint venture for the future ownership of Grand Central.Grand Central, which opened in September 2015, provides 435,000 sq ft of retail space, anchored by a 250,000 sq ft John Lewis department store. It was developed by Network Rail and Birmingham City Council as part of the £750m New Street Station regeneration project.Hammerson will fund the transaction with an expanded acquisition credit facility of £1.1 billion which has maturities of March 2017 (£734m) and September 2017 (£367m).