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| CastleCourt shopping centre in Belfast sold | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The CastleCourt shopping centre in Belfast has been sold. | |
| The Hermes property fund, which already had a two-thirds share in the centre, has taken full control in a deal with the Australian firm Westfield. | |
| Hermes has paid a reported £400m to buy Westfield's interest in Castle Court and two other shopping centres in England. | Hermes has paid a reported £400m to buy Westfield's interest in Castle Court and two other shopping centres in England. |
| Castle Court was Belfast's first major shopping centre and earns about £13m a year in rental payments. | Castle Court was Belfast's first major shopping centre and earns about £13m a year in rental payments. |
| Before the Northern Ireland property crash the 350,000 sq ft centre was valued at around £350m. | Before the Northern Ireland property crash the 350,000 sq ft centre was valued at around £350m. |
| It is now thought to be worth less than half that. | It is now thought to be worth less than half that. |
| Westfield has agreed to sell its interest in three non-core smaller centres in the UK. | |
| The sale of its interests in Belfast (33%), Guildford (50%) and Tunbridge Wells (33%) will result in gross proceeds of £159m, in line with prior book value, and net proceeds of £107m. | |
| Westfield Group Co-chief executive Steven Lowy said: "These assets were originally purchased in 2000, at the time of our initial entry into the UK. | |
| "Since that time we have refocused our business into iconic assets such as Westfield London and Stratford City and we continue to examine new growth opportunities in the UK. | |
| "Along with the recent sale of Nottingham, these assets divested today became non-core to our UK portfolio." |