PropList Blog
Whats next for Intu

It's been a grim week for Intu, on the back of a £2 billion loss for 2019, the write down of another £2 billion on its core stock, the failure to raise £1 billion in extra cash and followed by the announcement that if could not raise additional funds then it might go bust, they have now announced that just 29% of the tenants have paid this quarters rents.

With Covid-19 closing all but essential retailers, it's very difficult to conceive how Intu will be able to continue for much longer with very little change of most rents being paid during for April and possibly into May.

It's also difficult to see at this time if any private equity deal can be done to save the ailing giant or even to take control of the centres as going concerns. Is part of the future answer going to be bringing some of the centres into public hands?

From a local point of view, there are very good arguments for local authorities in Manchester (Trafford Centre), Dudley (Merry Hill) and Thurrock (Lakeside) to get involved as these centres cannot really be allowed to close. However, the running costs for shops at these centres are exceptionally high, so a local authority taking a multi-generational approach to the investment, reducing the rent with a payback of a much longer period, could be the ideal solution.  Could the centres be opened up further to include other community building - libraries, creches, centres for the elderly - even medical?

The same can be said for the more local centres and a community ownership of the centres - perhaps this and the potential rescue for retails being a higher priority for Government over the rest of this years than HS2 and associated costs.