PAY RISE FOR CITY COUNCIL WORKERS
THE shopping centre giant which co-owns Cardiff’s St David’s shopping centre has gone into administration.
Intu said it has applied to appoint administrators from KPMG, after warning earlier yesterday that it was on the verge of collapse.
It comes after months of warnings, with the firm saying back in May it could default on its debts.
Co-owner Land Securities issued a statement after Intu warned earlier this week some shopping centres may close if it fails, saying the future of the site is secure.
A spokesperson for Landsec told the Echo on Thursday: “St David’s will remain open as it is operated by Landsec, who jointly own the centre.”
The Cardiff site is the 12th-largest shopping centre in the UK and reopened following the coronavirus lockdown last Monday.
In May Intu said it had been trying to pay down debts of almost £4.5bn by offloading assets and recently sold one of its shopping centres in Spain.
The confirmation yesterday came minutes after the London Stock Exchange suspended shares in the listed firm, the Press Association reported.
However, the company said its shopping centres will continue to trade for the time being despite its insolvency.
Intu, which also runs Lakeside in Essex and the Trafford Centre in Manchester, had been in a desperate scramble to agree a “standstill” on its current loan agreements.
Shortly before yesterday’s confirmation, the group said it was likely to appoint administrators, as it remained unable to agree the terms of such a deal with its creditors.
In a statement, the group, which had until midnight on Friday to reach a deal, said “insufficient alignment and agreement has been achieved”.
Earlier this week, Intu said it put the administrators from KPMG on standby as it looked to secure a deal ahead of the midnight deadline on its current loan covenants.
The group has struggled under a £4.5bn debt burden for the past year, but has been hammered by significantly lower rent payments from retail tenants since the coronavirus outbreak.
Intu employs about 3,000 staff across the UK, while a further 102,000 work for the shops within its shopping centres.