Intu Properties (INTU) could seek to raise as much as £1bn to shore up its precarious finances. The heavily indebted firm’s share price has collapsed after high-street groups including Arcadia and Debenhams, – which occupy a lot of space in its buildings, last year resorted to emergency financial restructurings to close shops and cut their rent. It is thought Intu could launch the cash call alongside its full-year results at the end of next month, the Sunday Times suggested. The group is hobbled by a near £5bn debt pile and is trying to whittle it down by selling off properties. Last month the sale of one of its Spanish shopping centres raised €237.7m (£203m). At the end of last year Intu’s chief executive, Matthew Roberts, signalled that a cash call was on the cards but did not give any details about its size or timing. He said: “Our number one priority is to fix the balance sheet. We have a clear plan to do this … these options include disposing of assets through to raising equity, which is also likely to form part of the solution.”
A high court battle pitting rail operators against the government is due to start on Monday, with Stagecoach Group (SGC) and others seeking tens of millions of pounds in compensation in a case that could have far-reaching implications for the privatised rail system. Stagecoach is suing the Department for Transport after being disqualified from bidding for three rail franchises last year for failing to comply with demands on pension liabilities. It is expected to argue that the DfT mismanaged the bid process with regards to the Railway Pension Scheme, where a £7.5bn deficit has been identified by the regulator, and was attempting to shift too onerous a responsibility on to private firms. The litigants, which also include Stagecoach’s bid partners Virgin and SNCF, and the rival firm Arriva, claim that franchising contracts, which make the operators responsible for pension liabilities, pose an unacceptable level of risk, whether through strikes or financial collapse.
