Is John Whittaker The Big Loser From The Hammerson/Intu Sale Fail?
Everybody knows that a love triangle always ends in tears — and the fallout from the collapsed £3.4B Hammerson bid for Intu and Klépierre's £5B bid for Hammerson is now becoming apparent. Could the big loser be Intu Deputy Chairman John Whittaker?
The Trafford Centre is the centrepiece of the Intu portfolio and had the Hammerson/Intu bid succeeded, Whittaker would have become deputy chairman of the new £21B merged entity.
Through Peel Holdings, Whittaker owns a little short of 27% of Intu, meaning he would have been in line for a substantial payout from the £3.4B bid.
The Times reports investment bank analysts at Jeffries suggesting that Peel had borrowed against its stake in Intu, and that as a result of the fall in the value of the Intu share price, the leverage on this borrowing had gone up.
They draw the conclusion that this prompted the sale of Intu to Hammerson, the Times said.
Analysts have taken a generally positive view of Hammerson's decision to walk away, but are less flattering about Intu. "Peel Holdings was seeking a cheap deal to avoid doing an even cheaper one as shopping centre economics continue [to] deteriorate,” Jefferies suggested, according to Proactive Investors.
Meanwhile Barlcays commented on Intu's high loan-to-value ratio and high-end valuations, adding that they could not see any other likely buyers for the Intu portfolio.
Intu reported a steady rise in footfall at its centres in the first quarter, up 1.5% despite the bad weather.
