REAL ESTATE - ING Real Estate Development has sold its Stuttgart retail centre Canstatter Carre to property fund Encore+ in a €100m transaction.

The complex – developed by ING - comprises of 37,000 metre2 of lettable area (including 15,000 m2 office space) and 730 parking spaces, it said.

According to ING, the anchor tenants of Canstatter Carre are food retailers Kaufland and Lidl, drugstore Muller and fashion shops Strauss Innovation, Deichmann, New Yorkers, C&A and H&M.

Encore+ is a monthly priced and traded open-ended fund. It is managed by European property fund managers LaSalle Investment Management and Morley Fund Management.

Meanwhile, ING’s Real Estate China Opportunity Fund set up a third joint venture with Gemdale Corporation, by taking a €19m majority stake in a residential development project in Wuhan, the largest city in central China, it said.

The project will be realised in a prime and well-established district along Yangtze River. The site occupies a total land area of almost 65,000 m2. The planned housing will cover a gross floor area of almost 195,000 m2, ING indicated.

Earlier, ING Real Estate set up joint ventures with Gemdale for developments in Tianjin and Foshan.

Elsewhere, ING partnered with Longhu Real Estate Development for a residential development project in the central business district of Chongqing Municipality, it announced.

According to ING, it will invest €26m for a 49% stake in the project, in an area destined by the government to become the third central business district of the municipality. The site covers 112,000 m2 of land and a gross floor area of 335,000 m2, it added.

"Chongqing is one of the fastest growing second-tier cities targeted by our fund with strong end-user demand and disposable income," ING said.

"With its excellent track record, capable management team and strong focus on customers’ needs, we believe that this project with Longhu provides us with the best access to tap the potential of Chongqing’s real estate market, Richard van den Berg, ING’s country manager said.

Longhu is a privately-held company focusing on mid to high-end residential developments, as well as commercial projects in Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing, ING stated.

ING Real Estate has been operating and growing gradually in China since 1996. Its China Opportunity Fund had raised committed equity of €260m when it closed in December 2006.