Frasers front-runner for Meadowhall

Frasers Group is considering a bid for Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre. The shopping centre, which is owned by British Land and Norges Bank, was put up for sale last year by CBRE with an asking price of £750m. Frasers is believed to be the front-runner. Buying the 1.4m sq ft centre, the fifth largest mall in Britain, would be Frasers’ biggest foray into retail property to date. The FTSE 100 retailer, which is majority-owned by Mike Ashley, is one of the bidders on the 290-store centre. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of the Westfield malls in London, is believed to have also put in a bid. Frasers has been actively buying shopping centres, but has yet to break through the £100m barrier with any of its deals. Last year it bought the Mall in Luton from Capital & Regional for £58m, the Overgate Centre in Dundee for £30m, and the Junction 32 outlet shopping centre near Castleford, West Yorkshire, for £50m. It was earlier reported that a buyer for Meadowhall would inherit £450m of debt secured against the centre, while the cost of servicing the debt has meant Meadowhall’s owners have not received any income from the centre for three years. Frasers is currently one of the biggest tenants at Meadowhall, having taken 180,000 sq ft in August last year. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo from British Land