intu properties plc owns and operates 17 shopping centres across the UK including intu Trafford Centre, intu Lakeside, intu Merry Hill and intu MetroCentre, in addition to a shopping centre and development site in Spain.
It directly employs circa 2,373 people, including 370 at its head office in London, and each year welcomes around 400 million visitors to its sites.
Each of the shopping centres is owned individually by special purpose vehicles (“Propcos”) which are outside of any insolvency process and continue to trade as normal under the control of their directors.
Importantly, an agreement has been reached with key stakeholders which will allow continued provision of central services to the Propcos. Consequently, all of the shopping centres will remain open and operational while the joint administrators assess options for the business and assets of the group.
Jim Tucker, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “intu owns many of the UK’s biggest and best-known shopping centres. The challenges affecting UK retail are well known and have been exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown. As today’s administration makes clear, those challenges have fed through to owners of retail property, even to owners of high-quality shopping centres such as intu’s.”
David Pike, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, added: “With all centres remaining open, we look forward to working with staff, suppliers and other key stakeholders to preserve value and jobs in these important retail destinations.”
