PGGM Private Real Estate and Redevco have launched Urban Retail Ventures, a €550m (£481m) European commercial real estate joint venture, to invest in shopping and leisure destinations.
The new joint venture brings together Redevco’s proprietary ‘City Attractiveness’ research model and specialist retail market investment teams across Europe with the investment capabilities of the PGGM Private Real Estate team.
The joint venture is being seeded with the acquisition of Promenade Sainte-Catherine, a large-scale urban scheme in the centre of Bordeaux, France.
The strategy of Urban Retail Ventures is based on the strong belief that the most successful retail destinations in the future will be those that cater for the growing consumers’ desire to enjoy a day’s shopping, rather than to be focused on buying goods.
The PGGM and Redevco joint venture is also committed to reduce the carbon footprint of the portfolio to zero in 2030.
Andrew Vaughan, Redevco’s chief executive officer, said: “By combining big data factors and in-depth local knowledge, we can pinpoint those city and micro-locations that can produce a ‘halo effect’ allowing premium operators in these sectors to maintain their edge over mid-market competitors, making these destinations the most likely winners in the current retail landscape.”
Mathieu Elshout, senior director at PGGM Private Real Estate, said: “The PGGM and Redevco joint venture underlines our belief in top retail destinations, offering the right mix of functions and outperforming over the long term. As a long-term investor we believe in this research driven approach.”
Urban Retail Ventures is part of PGGM Private Real Estate’s investment strategy to set up strategic partnerships and build platforms with prominent real estate managers with a proven expertise of specific local markets.
This is the third European retail real estate joint venture entered into by Redevco, following earlier partnerships with UK institutional investor Hermes and US private equity firm Ares.
Redevco will be responsible for the asset management of Urban Retail Ventures.
To send feedback, e-mail amber.rolt@egi.co.uk or tweet @AmberRoltEG or @estatesgazette
