Troubled UK shopping centre specialist Intu and joint venture partner, Canadian group CPPIB, have completed the sale of the Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza, Spain for €475 mln.
Intu will receive €237.7 mln for its 50% share of the shopping centre sale to Generali Shopping Centre Fund and Union Investment Real Estate’s Unilmmo: Deutschland open-ended real estate fund. The transaction will deliver net proceeds of around €115 mln after repayment of debt, working capital adjustments and taxation.
'We are pleased to have successfully concluded this transaction which is another important step in our ultimate strategic objective to fix the balance sheet over the medium term,' said Matthew Roberts, chief executive of Intu.
Union and Generali first agreed the deal at the end of last year.
Comprising 120,000 m2, with a shopping centre and retail park, Puerto Venecia features 193 outlets and draws around 19 million visitors a year.
'This is the first investment of our pan-European Shopping Center Fund, launched in May 2019 and supported by our dedicated boutique Axis with a precise strategy of cherry-picking of prime retail in Europe,’ Aldo Mazzocco, CEO of Generali Real Estate, said at the time of the acquisition.
Intu Properties and CPPIB paid €451 mln for the asset in 2015.
CBRE acted on behalf of Intu.
