Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has bought a €140m portfolio of five hypermarkets and a supermarket in Italy from IGD SIIQ.
IGD said it has agreed to sell the hypermarkets located in Livorno, Schio, Lugo, Pesaro and Senigallia and the supermarket in Cecina to ICG’s sale and leaseback real estate fund.
The properties will be transferred to a closed-end Italian real estate investment (REIT) fund invested by ICG and IGD and managed by Savills Investment Management. ICG will hold 60% shares in the Italian REIT and IGD the remaining 40%.
IGD said the plan is to further enhance the portfolio over the next few years and sell it on the market at the best conditions possible.
Net of the amount reinvested in the fund, IGD said it expects to receive around €112m for the disposal.
Claudio Albertini, IGD’s CEO, said: “As already stated in the past, the gains from the sale will allow us to reduce our loan-to-value markedly and obtain the financial resources needed to cover maturities for all of 2022; assuming that there will be no new restrictions due to a worsening of the public health situation and taking into account the good operating results, as well as the prospects for the next few months, we believe that the conditions to begin paying a dividend to our shareholders again in 2022 exist, just as we had hoped.”
Chad Brown, investment director of sale and leaseback at ICG said: “This is an attractive deal for ICG, supported by strong trading performance and underlying sector fundamentals.
”Grocery real estate investments are a key target for the sale and leaseback fund as we continue to actively seek opportunities across Europe.”
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