A LARGE property developer has announced it will sell its entire office portfolio.

The news from Hammerson came as it published its full year results for 2011. Like for like rental income was up by 2.5% but it would dispose of its offices over the medium term and instead focus on its retail portfolio.

Hammerson’s offices include several major City of London developments including 99 Bishopsgate, valued in excess of £200million, 125 Old Broad Street and 1 Leadenhall Court.

David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said:

“Hammerson has created a retail business delivering outperformance from prime assets in winning locations. We now intend to sell our standing office investments over the medium term to maximise returns, redeploying capital into the retail sector to exploit our expertise and build on our existing scale. This will create efficiencies that lead to further cost savings and income growth from our portfolio.”

The company’s retail portfolio includes Brent Cross Shopping Centre, the Bullring in Birmingham and Cabot Circus in Bristol.