British Land sells 50% stake in Meadowhall Shopping Centre for $457 million

(Reuters) - Landlord British Land Co Plc said on Monday it has sold its 50% stake in Meadowhall Shopping Centre to its partner Norges Bank Investment Management for 360 million pounds ($457.3 million).

High interest rates and incessant macro-economic worries have dampened a tentative recovery in the highly leveraged British commercial property sector from pandemic lows, while the office space portfolio has struggled amid evolving work habits.

The divestment is in line with the company's strategy to focus on retail parks and reduce exposure to covered shopping centres, the Broadgate owner said in a statement.

British Land said some secondary land was sold by the joint venture earlier this year and the two deals together value the Meadowhall estate at 734 million pounds, 3% above its September 2023 book value.

The London-listed firm said the impact of the transaction on NTA per share - a key metric gauging the value of its buildings - for financial year 2025 is expected to be negligible.

As part of the transaction, British Land will remain as asset manager of Meadowhall shopping centre, for which it will continue to earn fees, the company said, adding that the deal is expected to complete in July this year.

($1 = 0.7872 pounds)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)