Hammerson own some of the UK's best-known shopping malls, including London's Brent Cross and the Birmingham Bullring.
And they have been doing some shopping of their own -- they've just launched a £3.4 billion bid for rival Intu. If the deal goes ahead, it will bring Manchester's Trafford Centre, Gateshead's Metro Centre and Glasgow's Braehead into the same group.
Tony Shiret is retail analyst at Whitman Howard and Ashley Armstrong is the Telegraph's retail editor.
