Hammerson Bids To Develop London Shopping Site - Report

Anglo-French property developer Hammerson PLC (HMSO.LN) is vying with rivals to construct a large shopping site in London, U.K, The Independent On Sunday reported, without citing sources.

The FTSE 100-listed company has emerged as a contender in discussions with the charity that part-owns the Whitgift shopping center in Croydon, it said.

Australian shopping center giant Westfield (WDC.AU) last week said it also is looking at development options for the site, the newspaper added.

The newspaper also said specialist developer Capital Shopping Centres Group PLC (CSCG.LN) has also expressed interest, while the listed property company British Land Co. PLC (BLND.LN) and the Australian developer Lend Lease Group (LLC.AU ) are in talks, along with real estate fund managers Meyer Bergman and Area Property Partners (AREAPP.XX), without saying where it got its information.

Irish Bank Resolution Corp. Ltd. (ANGL.YY), formerly the Anglo Irish bank, and Royal London Asset Management own the long leasehold of the 1.2 million square feet center, which is valued at around GBP350 million, the report said.

Hammerson was immediately unavailable for comment.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.independent.co.uk

-London Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]