BAILOUT BID TRIGGERS SHARE SLUMP

ONE of Britain’s biggest shopping centre owners is to ask investors for up to £1billion to cut its debts.

Struggling Intu Properties is worth £311million yet its borrowing stands at £4.7billion.

The firm that owns Braehead, near Glasgow, Lakeside in Essex and Manchester’s Trafford Centre yesterday confirmed it would ask shareholders for extra cash, with reports suggesting a figure around the £1billion mark.

The admission triggered a near 10 per cent slump in its share price at one stage yesterday, although they closed down one per cent.

Intu has been hit by the shift to online shopping and a wave of retailers going into administration, closing stores or demanding rent reductions. The firm said: “Intu properties continues to make progress in its strategy to fix the balance sheet. Consistent with previous announcements, this now includes targeting an equity raise alongside its full year results at the end of February.” An equity raise involves issuing new shares to bring in extra cash – but this tends to push the share price down, which could upset current investors. Matthew Roberts, Intu chief executive, said: “We are making good progress with fixing the balance sheet.” He added that shopper numbers to Intu’s UK centres were flat over Christmas compared with a year earlier. Intu said about 95 per cent of its shopping centre space was occupied by tenants, with 97 per cent of rent collected for the first quarter of 2020.

Braehead centre

BRITISH defence giant BAE Systems is buying US rival Collins Aerospace’s military GPS system for £1.7billion. The firm’s system is used by the US Air Force.

The deal, BAE’s biggest for more than a decade, comes amid controversy over US private equity giant Advent’s £4billion recent takeover of UK defence firm Cobham.