Hammerson to sell £1.1b of retail park properties

British shopping center operator Hammerson has plans to sell all of its out-of-town retail parks and reduce its exposure to department stores, totaling £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) of properties by the end of 2019.

The firm plans to refocus its business on to its city shopping centers and premium outlets division. The firm will shrink department store space by a quarter and high street fashion by a fifth, replaced by differentiated brands, aspirational fashion, leisure, events and lifestyle spaces. Hammerson will devote more resource to meet increased consumer demand for experience enhancing events and a sophisticated digital offer. The optimized portfolio will have greater pan-European diversity with non-U.K. retail exposure increasing by 10 percent.

“Our reshaped strategy sees us taking decisive action to further reposition our portfolio,” said David Atkins, chief executive of Hammerson. “Through increasing the level of disposals, including exiting the retail parks sector, we will now focus solely on winning destinations of the highest quality: Flagship retail destinations and Premium Outlets. These are the venues we believe will maintain relevance and outperform against the shifting retail backdrop.”

It will sell all of its 13 remaining out-of-town retail parks, which range from sites at Swansea to Luton.

The assets include: Abbey retail park in Belfast; Abbotsinch retail park in Paisle; Brent South shopping park in London; Central retail park in Falkirk; Cleveland retail park in Middlesbrough; Cyfarthfa retail park in Merthyr Tydfil; Dallow Road in Luton; Elliott’s Field shopping park in Rugby; Parc Tawe retail park in Swansea; Ravenhead retail park in St Helens; St Oswald’s retail park in Glouceste; Telford Forge shopping park in Telford; and The Orchard Centre in Didcot.

Hammerson has already completed £300 million ($394 million) of asset sales so far this year and an increased overall 2018 target of £600 million ($788 million). The firm recently sold its Imperial retail park in Bristol and Fife Central retail park in Kirkcaldy for a total of £164 million ($216 million) to the property investment firm Capreon.

In other news, the disposal plan comes after Hammerson’s board withdrew its backing for the company’s takeover of Intu.