A London property giant that once owned Liverpool’s St John’s shopping centre is reportedly ready to swoop to buy Liverpool ONE in a £500m deal. Tony McDonough reports

Retail and leisure complex Liverpool ONE is reportedly set to change hands in a £500m deal.

Media outlet Place North West is reporting that Landsec, formerly called Land Securities, was in financier negotiations to acquire Liverpool ONE, built and opened by Grosvenor in 2008 at a cost of £1bn.

Grosvenor has already sold a majority stake in the 42-acre estate to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and still retains a 23% share. Landsec is looking to acquire a 93% stake.

If the deal went through at £500m this would represent a net initial yield of around 7%. Net initial yield is the annual rental income at the time of the sale expressed as a percentage of the capital value.

According to Place North West talks are at an “advanced stage”. None of the parties have made any public comment. This would not be London-based Landsec’s first foray into Liverpool. It owned St Johns shopping centre for a number of years before selling it to InfraRed Capital Partners for £76.5m in 2012.

In September 2023 Grosvenor admitted to LBN that it had taken a huge financial hit on the £1bn development when it opened in 2008 due to the financial crisis at the time..

Mark Preston, chief executive of Grosvenor, said: “We were eager to make sure we opened as early as possible during that Capital of Culture year, which is why we had the two-stage opening.

“By then the financial crisis was getting into full swing and there were still lots of retail lettings we needed to complete. And, indeed, we didn’t complete a lot of those until later in the following year.

“There were also still negotiations over compulsory purchase orders so there were an awful lot of things going on at that time.

“So did we get the wobbles? Well I can speak very personally on this because at this point I was chief executive of the UK business that was responsible for making decisions on this.

“And there was no doubt in my mind that we needed to continue to complete as we intended. There were no corners to be cut and we weren’t going to change from what we, and the late Duke (of Westminster), had promised the people of Liverpool we would deliver.

“It was my job to deliver what he said he wanted delivered. So we stuck with it and financially it was very painful for us. It was done at enormous cost.

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“But it was a commitment we had made and it is a hallmark of Grosvenor that we keep to our word. We also had faith that, in the long term, that by delivering on the quality and not cutting corners it would stand the test of time.

“Consequently it has proven to be a substantially good investment 15 years later. We knew history would be kinder to us if we stuck to our plans in what was a very difficult time financially.”

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