UK's Shopping Mall Giant Intu Collapses

British shopping mall giant Intu, already struggling before the coronavirus lockdown in a tough retail climate, said it was going into administration after failing to secure a financial lifeline. The debt-laden firm, which owns 17 giant shopping malls including MetroCentre, the Trafford Centre in northern England, and Lakeside in the southeast, had been seeking to progress talks with creditors before a (2300 GMT) deadline. KPMG will be appointed as administrators. "This is a huge, significant event for the industry because Intu is the owner of some of the largest retail destinations in the UK," said analyst Richard Lim at Retail Economics. The Intu group employs 2,500 staff across all its malls but another 100,000 people work at shops and restaurants inside its facilities. Another 30,000 are involved on the supply side.