Invesco to invest in Spanish hypermarkets portfolio

Invesco Real Estate is investing €358m ($403m) in a portfolio of Spanish hypermarkets.

The investment manager exchanged contracts on the portfolio of 11 hypermarkets in northern Spain for its open-ended pan-European fund.

Gonuri Harizartean sold the portfolio in a sale-and-leaseback deal, with the 11 assets fully let to Spanish retail chain the Eroski Group.

The 136,000sqm portfolio is let on a 25-year lease and includes assets in the Basque country and Navarra regions.

Alejandro Monge, director of transactions in Spain since 2006, said: “There is significant regional diversity in Spain.

“In general, the major cities and northern Spain are the more affluent and dynamic regions, and it is this diversity that is important to understand, particularly in the retail sector.”

The deal, expected to close later this month, is the fund’s third in Spain since 2009.

Paddy Bingham, managing director of fund management, said the portfolio would support the core income return of the fund.

“The fund has always had a target weighting towards Spain,” Bingham said.