German pension fund Nordrheinische Ärzteversorgung (NAEV) has acquired two hypermarket assets in Spain through a real estate fund administered by Universal-Investment Luxembourg.

Retail real estate investment manager Pradera said it advised Universal-Investment on the acquisition of the Eroski hypermarkets located in Vitoria and Leioa in northern Spain.

The assets were acquired from Intermediate Capital Group’s (ICG) Sale and Leaseback Fund (ICG SLB I) for an undisclosed amount. 

The new acquisitions will be added to the existing six assets, acquired on behalf of NAEV, to create a portfolio of eight assets in northern Spain with a value in excess of €200m.

Pradera said it has been retained by Universal-Investment to manage the new properties together with an existing portfolio under a property management contract.

Peter Davies, fund director at Pradera, said: “The successful purchase of these two new assets in northern Spain complements the existing portfolio of six assets that we acquired on Universal-Investment’s behalf at the end of 2020.

“The acquisition of these hypermarkets is part of a European long income, grocery-focussed investment strategy on behalf of NAEV, designed to deliver sustainable returns in one of real estate’s most sought-after asset classes.”

Colin Campbell, chairman of Pradera, said: “The acquisition of this additional portfolio on behalf of our client NAEV underlines our ability to source off-market transactions in a highly competitive sector of the retail property market.

“We will continue to build our capability in this sector having already identified a number of new opportunities in the retail real estate long income market.”

Chris Nichols, portfolio Manager at ICG said: “We are delighted with the first disposal from the SLB Fund, which is an excellent result for our investors. 

The Eroski hypermarkets were first acquired in 2018 by ICG SLB I.

“This part sale of our Eroski portfolio has crystalised a material outperformance and endorses our core thesis of value creation through the acquisition of mission-critical real estate,” Nichols said.

The food retail sector remains highly sought after, demonstrating its durability throughout the pandemic, Nichols said.

“Grocery real estate investments across both Europe and the UK remain a key target for us as we continue to build of the success of the sale and leaseback fund in 2022.”

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