Trafford Centre owner on brink of administration

The owner of Greater Manchester's Trafford Centre Intu is on the brink of collapsing into administration, after failing to secure its future during crunch talks with lenders.

It had been in a desperate scramble to agree a "standstill" on its current loan agreements.

On Friday the group said it was likely to appoint administrators, as it remained unable to agree the terms of such a deal with its creditors.

In a statement the group, which has until midnight on Friday to reach a deal, said "insufficient alignment and agreement has been achieved".

Earlier this week, Intu said it put administrators from KPMG on stand-by as it looked to secure a deal ahead of the midnight deadline on its current loan covenants.

The group has struggled under a £4.5 billion debt burden for the past year, but has been hammered by significantly lower rent payments from retail tenants since the coronavirus outbreak.

Intu employs about 3,000 staff across the UK, while a further 102,000 work for the shops within its shopping centres.

It warned on Tuesday that its malls may be forced to shut if it was unable to secure the standstill agreement.