Intu Bromley buoyed as Alaska shells out £280m

ALASKAN oil money poured into Bromley today as the South-East London borough’s main shopping centre was sold for £280 million.

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation — set up 40 years ago to spend the US state’s oil revenues — has bought an 85% stake in the intu Bromley shopping centre from majority owner Intu Properties, and fellow investor Aviva.

The local council is retaining a 15% stake in the centre — formerly known as the Glades — which has 20 million visitors a year and has recently been refurbished.

The deal is a vote of confidence in the retail property sector after shopping centre transactions all but ground to a halt in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Intu was hit by the closure of BHS but occupancy across its centres, which include the Lakeside, remains at 95.6%. The firm is in talks over re-letting BHS’s 10 stores.