One of the UK’s biggest shopping malls, the Trafford Centre in Manchester has been taken over by its lenders after its management failed to sell it. The mall was owned by Intu Properties, which has gone into administration in June this year.
- Trafford Centre will now be handled by Canada’s biggest pension fund, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
- CPPIB was the main lenders of Intu Properties as it had lent the company £250 million three years ago against the Trafford Centre.
- Once Intu Properties slid into administration in June this year with debt of around £5 billion, a sale process was initiated.
- The shopping mall, one of the UK’s top five shopping centres, was deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with many of its retail shop owners going bust or unable to pay their rent.
- The Trafford Centre and Intu’s other 16 shopping centres have escaped the insolvency process and now are under new management.
- It is worth noting that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of the major investors in UK shopping centres space and has earlier invested in London’s Westfield Stratford, Grand Central and Birmingham’s Bullring.