Braintree shopping village owners Freeport Leisure today played down reports it could be bought out.

Shares in the property company, which specialises in factory outlet shopping villages, like the one off Braintree's Millennium Way, have been rising following speculation in the City that three executives were considering a possible takeover bid.

Freeport at Braintree

But a spokesman for Freeport today said: "While the City might have been talking about it, there was never any approach made to Freeport. If someone is planning to make an approach, they haven't let us know."

The spokesman also said Braintree Freeport is expecting its 15 millionth visitor this year and the retail site was an important asset to the company.

He said: "The Braintree site has been a national success with people travelling much further than we expected. We have expanded the site recently to include the leisure park and are always looking for more ways to continue that expansion.

"Braintree is a very important part of the Freeport portfolio and aspects of the site have been used in our international models."

The company was founded in 1994 and was first listed on the stock exchange in 1995.

Freeport Leisure has six retail outlet villages in the UK and four in mainland Europe, the first village opened in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, in 1994, followed by Fleetwood, Scotland, Talke, Castleford and Braintree.

Braintree's 85-store complex opened in November, 1999, creating about 1,000 new full and part-time jobs for the town and aiming to serve the 6.7 million people who live within 90 minutes of the village.

Published Wednesday, April 23, 2003

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