Britain’s biggest shopping centre-owner has put administrators on standby as it enters a crucial fortnight that will determine whether it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic intact.
Sky News has learnt that Intu Properties, which directly employs more than 2,000 people, is lining up KPMG to handle an insolvency process if lenders refuse to grant a standstill on its vast debt obligations.
The development, which is understood to have been agreed in the last few days as Intu’s board accelerates its contingency planning, underlines the parlous state of the company behind Manchester’s Trafford Centre, the Metrocentre in Gateshead and Lakeside in Essex.