Crumbling Property Market Forces B L To Cancel Huge Sale

[Realistbear]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...5/cnland105.xml

British Land pulls crunch casualty

By Sophie Brodie

Last Updated: 1:30am BST 05/10/2007

British Land, the UK's second largest property company, became the latest victim of the credit crunch yesterday when it withdrew the sale of part of its £1.6bn shopping centre Meadowhall.

The company, which began marketing the 75pc stake in May, said it had pulled the sale because of "uncertainty in the financial markets" which had made it "unlikely" to achieve the desired price.

Chief executive Stephen Hester said: "While we would have liked to find investment partners for Meadowhall, the centre's prospects together with the success of our disposal programme (£1.6bn for the year to date), make the decision to hold a relatively painless one."

Nonetheless, the withdrawal is a further drawback for the company, which has seen its share price fall by a third since the start of the year.

It does look like the miracle economy is in terminal decline. With major transactions being shelved, M&A activity drying up City jobs will start to be lost and the miracle economny will be effectively dead. With virtualy no manufacturing to turn to Gordon has effectively crippled Britain's chances of recovery once Great Crash 2 has blown through.