Capital & Regional board recommends £150m deal with Growthpoint

Shopping centres owner Capital & Regional on Thursday recommended that shareholders accept a £150 million deal for South Africa’s Growthpoint Properties to become its majority owner.

C&R, which owns eight shopping centres, including in Walthamstow and Wood Green, first entered talks with the suitor last month.

Today Growthpoint said it will offer Capital & Regional investors 33p per share for a 30.3% stake. That is a 100% premium to the company’s share price before the deal was announced.

Growthpoint would also subscribe for new shares to raise £77.9 million. In total it would hold about 51.2% in the malls landlord.

Shares in C&R rose 3.8p, or more than 18%, to 25.13p.

C&R, led by Lawrence Hutchings, hopes to cut its debt mountain, which is £400 million, and invest in its centres to make them less exposed to fashion stores, some of which have been hurt by weak consumer confidence. It will introduce more stores shoppers “need”, such as chemists, grocers and opticians.

Some British retail property firms are currently viewed as attractive to international buyers wanting to take advantage of the weaker pound and falling real estate values.