Intu Properties has teamed up with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to buy a Spanish shopping centre and has mooted further investment in Spain through a new REIT.
A statement from the retail and leisure investor announced the joint venture’s agreement to buy the 800,000 Parque Principado shopping centre in Asturias, Northern Spain, for €141.5m (£120m) and said “we look forward to extending this relationship” with CPPIB.
It added that the purchase “on attractive and earnings accretive terms firmly establishes Intu’s presence on the ground in a country where we see considerable growth opportunities in the regional shopping centre industry”.
Intu has a site under option in Andalucia, for around 850,000 sq ft of retail space with additional leisure and, as previously announced, has entered into arrangements with Eurofund, a local partner, for pre-development activity on this site and at two major sites under option, in Valencia and Vigo.
It is aiming to bring in additional third party capital to assist with funding its Spanish activities without diverting significant financial resources from its organic development pipeline in the UK.
The company went on to say it is actively investigating the creation of a special purpose investment vehicle for its Spanish activities, such as a Spanish REIT, following a number of recent regulatory improvements to this product.
The jv bought the mall from Sierra Fund, a pan-European retail fund in which Sonae Sierra has a stake of 50.1%, and CBRE Iberian Value Added Fund.
Cushman & Wakefield acted on behalf of the co-investors in the purchase and has been appointed property manager and letting agent.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
