Kuwaiti-Backed Fund May Buy U.K. Mall Stake: Sunday Times

(Bloomberg) -- Intu Properties Plc is in talks to sell a 50 percent stake in one of its English shopping centers to a Kuwaiti-backed fund, the U.K.’s Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

The deal would create a joint venture between London-based Intu and Cale Street Partners, the report said. Intu bought the shopping center, located in the city of Derby, England, five years ago in a deal worth about 390 million pounds ($514.8 million).

Selling the shopping center would bring in much-needed cash for Intu, which has debts of more than 4.5 billion pounds. Last year, the company slashed its dividend to reinvest in its portfolio after a group of investors -- including British billionaire John Whittaker -- withdrew a takeover bid in November.

The day before the investors pulled out of the deal, the Bank of England said the prices of malls, offices and hotels could fall by almost 50 percent if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal. Last April, Intu rival Hammerson Plc also abandoned an attempt to acquire the business.

Cale Street Partners is a London-based investment fund focused on European real estate. Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund provided seed $1.5 billion in seed funding the business, according to market research company Oxford Business Group.

Intu and Cale Street Partners didn’t respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Stupples in London at bstupples@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Rachel Graham, Steve Geimann

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