Hammerson furious at £5bn French raid by Klépierre

The owner of London’s Brent Cross shopping centre on Monday slammed a shock £4.9 billion takeover attempt by French rival Klépierre, calling the move which could derail its recent swoop for Intu “opportunistic”.

The FTSE-100 malls giant revealed it has received and rejected a 615p-per-share approach from Klépierre, which has properties across 16 countries.

The swoop comes three months after Hammerson unveiled plans to buy smaller rival Intu for about £3.4 billion.

Klépierre’s proposal is for Hammerson without Intu, and the price represents a discount of 20.7% to the value of Hammerson’s assets, worth 776p per share, as at December 31.

Hammerson chairman David Tyler called it “wholly inadequate and entirely opportunistic”.

The approach was rebuffed on March 9 but today is the first time the companies have spoken about the offer.

Shares in Hammerson, which is also behind Birmingham’s Bullring, surged 114.5p, or more than 26%, to 551.6p, as the City bet on the suitor coming back with an improved offer.

Peel Hunt’s Matthew Saperia said with Hammerson shares up and Intu’s broadly flat, their “marriage of convenience” looked less likely.

Klépierre, advised by Goldman Sachs and Citi, has until April 16 to announce a firm offer.

Deutsche Bank, Lazards and JPMorgan are acting for Hammerson.