Intu enters administration
The Intu chain of shopping centres has entered administration after failing to secure an agreement with its creditors.
The business had been struggling for some time and its problems were compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jim Tucker, David Pike and Mike Pink from KPMG’s restructuring practice have been appointed as joint administrators to the business.
Intu’s 17 strong portfolio includes some of the largest shopping centres in the UK such as Intu Trafford Centre, Intu Lakeside, Intu Merry Hill and Intu Metro Centre. It also owns a shopping centre and development site in Spain.
Each centre is owned individually by special purpose vehicles which are outside of any insolvency process and will continue to trade as normal under the control of their directors. All will remain operational while the administrators assess options for the business.
Employing over 2,300 people, the centres welcome around 400 million visitors a year.
Tucker said: “Intu owns many of the UK’s biggest and best-known shopping centres. The challenges affecting UK retail are well known and have been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 and the resulting lockdown. As today’s administration makes clear, those challenges have fed through to owners of retail property, even to owners of high-quality shopping centres such as Intu’s.
