Hammerson to sell Birmingham retail park for £57.5m

Hammerson has exchanged contracts for the sale of Battery Retail Park in Birmingham to NFU Mutual for £57.5m.

Located south west of Birmingham city centre in Selly Oak, the retail park covers a total of 12,600m2. The sale price represents a net initial yield of 6% and is in line with December 2016 book value.

Hammerson said the retail park has benefitted from “a proactive asset management strategy” which reconfigured the park and implemented a more diverse tenant mix. The tenant line-up now caters to both homeware and fashion demand with brands including Next, TK Maxx, Homebase, Sports Direct and Halfords.

Chief executive officer David Atkins said: "We have successfully reconfigured Battery Retail Park and improved the retail mix. There continues to be good investor demand for relevant retail destinations with solid brands and modern retailer units. This transaction is in line with our ongoing disposal strategy which saw the business achieve more than £400m of disposals in 2017, and provides the opportunity to invest in our development and premium outlet sectors."