British Land Halts Meadowhall Sale

The property trust British Land said turmoil in the money markets has forced it to cancel the sales of Meadowhall , the Sheffield Shopping Centre. The trust, Britain's second largest, said that despite some interest from investors "the uncertainty in financial markets has made the prospect of realising an appropriate value unlikely". it currently owns a 75% holding in the £1.7bn shopping centre.

Meadowhall is already financed through a securitised loan paying a low interest rate of 4.98%, which any buyer is unlikely to match in the current credit markets where borrowing has become expensive and most loans are in excess of 6%.

A recent by analysts RiskMetrics said the credit crunch had increased the risk of serious financial problems for companies across Europe. Some UK businesses on its risk list included high street retailer Woolworths and Abbot Group, the largest offshore drilling platform owner in the North Sea.

RiskMetrics said the companies on its list were also unable to rely on strong cashflow to fund debts, leaving them in a more vulnerable position during the credit famine. A spokesman said: "We identified 58 such companies of which six had short-term debt in excess of 40% of their total capital."