The decision comes as the group continues to focus on retail parks and reduce its exposure to traditional shopping centres.
The sale to its partner Norges Bank Investment Management for £360m was announced yesterday (20 May). It follows the sale of some ancillary land by the joint venture for £7m earlier in 2024 – valuing the entire Meadowhall estate at £734m, 3% above its September 2023 valuation.
The transaction will be completed in July 2024 and British Land said the proceeds will be used for “general corporate purposes”, including reinvesting in retail parks.
Proceeds of the deal after net debt of around £200m are expected to total £156m. British Land said the impact of the transaction on its 2025 full-year balance sheet is “expected to be negligible”.
As part of the deal, British Land said it would remain as an asset manager of the shopping centre, for which it will continue to earn fees in line with its current terms.
British Land CEO Simon Carter 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% 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% occupancy we are delivering strong rental growth.”
Meadowhall is the fifth largest shopping centre in the UK, with approximately 24m people visiting it each year.