Hammerson plc is a major British property development and

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under the ...

. The firm switched to

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

(REIT) status when they were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

; it is also a constituent of the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe index, among others. The majority of Hammerson's portfolio is in the United Kingdom, but is also operates in continental Europe, including operations in France, Ireland, Spain, and Germany. It invests mainly in offices and retail premises.

History

The business was founded by

Lewis Hammerson Lewis W. Hammerson (1916–1958) was the founder of Hammerson plc, one the United Kingdom's largest property businesses and a FTSE 100 company. Career Lewis Hammerson initially joined the family garment business, Amalgamated Weatherware, in the 19 ...

, who began to invest in property in 1942, converting houses into apartments. His company L.W. Hammerson & Co moved into the commercial property sector in 1948 and became a listed company in 1953. It first expanded outside the UK in the 1960s, when it moved into Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In the 1970s it ventured onto the continent and back in the UK it developed the

Brent Cross Shopping Centre Brent Cross Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Hendon, north London, owned by Hammerson and Abrdn. Located by the Brent Cross interchange, it opened in 1976 as the UK's first out-of-town shopping centre. Brent Cross attracted 15–1 ...

, which was the first major covered shopping centre in the country. In the 1990s the operations outside Europe were sold and further properties were acquired in Europe. The year 2003 saw the opening of the new Bull Ring shopping centre in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, which was one of the largest city centre retail developments ever built in the UK. In October 2012, Hammerson sold its office property at

Gresham Street Gresham Street in the City of London is named after the English merchant and financier Thomas Gresham. It runs from the junction of Lothbury and Moorgate at its eastern end, to St. Martin's Le Grand in the west. Gresham Street was created in ...

in London for £200 million to

Retirement Fund (Incorporated) Retirement Fund (Incorporated) ( ms, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan); KWAP) is a statutory body which manages the pension scheme for Malaysia's public employees. KWAP is the investment manager of the Retirement Fund, which is applied towar ...

, the Malaysian state pension fund. In December 2017, Hammerson announced its intention to take over rival

Intu Intu Properties plc was a British real estate investment trust (REIT), largely focused on shopping centre management and development. Originally named Liberty International plc, it changed its name in May 2010 to Capital Shopping Centres Group p ...

in a £3.4 billion deal; however, later in April 2018, Hammerson announced that it was withdrawing its recommendation (to proceed with the takeover) citing concerns about the health of the UK retail market. In March 2018, Hammerson rejected a £4.9 billion takeover offer from the French property development firm,

Klépierre Klépierre S.A. is a French real estate investment trust (REIT) and Europe’s second-biggest publicly traded mall operator. It was founded in 1990. It focuses on the ownership, management and development of shopping centers across Continental E ...

. In July 2018, Hammerson announced to sell off £1.1bn of properties by 2019 as it exits the retail park sector and focuses on "flagship retail destinations".

Operations

The company's portfolio, including its investment in joint ventures and associates, was valued at £4.4 billion as at 31 December 2021. Hammerson have interests in several major retail developments, including: *

Swords Pavilions Swords Pavilions is a shopping centre, located in Swords, in Fingal, Dublin, Ireland. The centre contains more than 90 shops, restaurants and cafes, as well as the 11 screen Movies@Swords cinema, and has over 2,000 surface and multi-storey ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland *

Dundrum Town Centre Dundrum Town Centre is a shopping centre located in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland. It is Ireland's largest shopping centre with over 169 tenants, almost of floor space, and over 3,400 car parking spaces. It is located just south of the village ce ...

, Dublin, Ireland *

Ilac Centre The Ilac Centre is a shopping centre, located in central Dublin, north of the River Liffey. It has entrances opening onto Henry Street, Parnell Street and Moore Street. History The Ilac Centre was opened in 1981, and was one of the first shoppi ...

, Dublin, Ireland *

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England *

Cabot Circus Cabot Circus is a covered shopping centre in Bristol, England. It is adjacent to Broadmead, a shopping district in Bristol city centre. The Cabot Circus development area contains shops, offices, a cinema, hotel and 250 apartments. It covers a tot ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England * Espace Saint-Quentin,

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles (new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to ...

, France * Grand Central,

, England * Highcross,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England * Italie 2,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France * Les 3 Fontaines,

Cergy-Pontoise Cergy-Pontoise () is a new town and an agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise and Yvelines departments, northwest of Paris on the river Oise. It owes its name to two of the communes that it covers, Cergy and Pontoise. Its populatio ...

, France * O'Parinor,

Aulnay-sous-Bois Aulnay-sous-Bois () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the Île-de-France region in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aulnaysiens'' o ...

, France * Bull Ring, Birmingham, England * The Oracle,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, England *

Westquay Westquay (formerly WestQuay) is a shopping centre in Southampton, England. It has an area of of retail and leisure space and contains around 130 shops, including major retailers such as John Lewis and Partners, Marks and Spencer, Zara, Schuh ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England * Union Square Shopping Centre,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland *

Victoria Gate Victoria Leeds is a shopping district and leisure area in central Leeds, comprising the 1990 Victoria Quarter, an arcaded complex of restored 19th century and contemporary shopping arcades, and the 2016 Victoria Gate development. Notable for ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England *

Victoria Quarter Victoria Leeds is a shopping district and leisure area in central Leeds, comprising the 1990 Victoria Quarter, an arcaded complex of restored 19th century and contemporary shopping arcades, and the 2016 Victoria Gate development. Notable for ...

, England Hammerson,

Henderson Group Henderson Group plc was a global investment management company with its principal place of business in the City of London. It merged with Janus Capital Group in May 2017 to create Janus Henderson. History The Company was established in 1934 ...

and

Future Fund The Future Fund is an independently managed sovereign wealth fund established in 2006 to strengthen the Australian Government's long-term financial position by making provision for unfunded superannuation liabilities for politicians and other pu ...

together form the Birmingham Alliance, who are responsible for the Bullring,

Martineau Place Martineau Place is a shopping centre located in the city centre of Birmingham, England. It contains a mixture of shops and restaurants, with the emphasis on food and drink which is located on the roofs of the shops. Retailers include Sainsbury ...

and the up-coming

Martineau Galleries Martineau Galleries is a proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England which was shelved in 2009 but re-approved in 2020. It was to connect the Eastside to the city centre core, a major retail area. History Pre-1960s development ...

development.CBRE to deliver development consultancy advice on Birmingham’s £600m Martineau Galleries scheme
CBRE, 12 November 2007, Retrieved 24 March 2012

References

External links

Official site

Yahoo profileBirmingham Alliance site
{{Authority control Real estate companies established in 1942 Real estate investment trusts of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Islington Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange 1942 establishments in England

History

Operations

See also

References

External links