Hammerson 'to raise £584m'

Hammerson has launched a fully underwritten rights issue in order to raise proceeds of £584.2 million.

The commercial property company, which is one of the largest in Europe, hopes to use the money raised from the issue to cut its net indebedness and strengthen its financial position.

Approval for the rights issue will be sought from shareholders at the firm's upcoming general meeting, which takes place at the end of this month.

John Nelson, chairman of Hammerson, said that directors had concluded that the move was in "shareholders' best interests".

He added: "The company continues to pursue asset sales as a means of reducing gearing."

Recent figures from Jones Lang LaSalle found that commercial property returns in the UK fell to 12.8 per cent in the final quarter of last year.

The fall equated to an annual drop of 21.2 per cent.