US grocery-anchored shopping centre investor ShopOne Centers REIT has partnered with investment manager Pantheon to acquire $1bn (€864m) worth of assets.

The partnership, which has been seeded with a portfolio contributed by ShopOne, will target “necessity-based, value-oriented” grocery-anchored centres, primarily located in high population areas, with a focus on locations in the top-100 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

The companies said the joint venture has closed on a newly-created $225m senior credit facility providing debt capital for the initial portfolio, with additional capacity to fund future acquisitions.

The partners are each investing additional capital to give the venture a $1bn investment capacity, the companies said.

In addition to the top-100 MSAs, the venture will consider necessity and “value-oriented grocery-anchored neighbourhood and community shopping centres in select college towns or established tourist destinations”, the companies said.

John Roche, the CEO of ShopOne Centers REIT, said: “We are very excited to form this partnership with two highly experienced institutional partners that possess deep relationships within the investment community.

“Like us, they are bullish on the near- and long-term fundamentals of grocery-anchored shopping centres and the attractive risk-adjusted returns these assets can generate. By combining forces, we have the capital and platform to strategically add scale in the markets we target and unlock value for the communities we serve.”

David Elliott, managing director in Pantheon’s real estate arm, said: “Grocery-anchored shopping centres have proven their resilience throughout the pandemic, playing a vital role in their local neighbourhoods and communities.

“We’re delighted to work closely with the entire ShopOne team to execute a strategy focused on investing in and improving necessity-based centres in growth markets throughout the US.”

Chris Reed, the CIO of ShopOne Centers REIT, said: “Due to the stability and strong financial performance exhibited during the pandemic, we’ve seen increasing liquidity in the capital markets for grocery-anchored shopping centres.”

“Given the breadth of resources and expertise this joint venture possesses, we believe we offer an attractive and unique buyer profile that we will use to our advantage as we seek to grow our footprint in our target markets.”

Institutional Real Estate served as capital advisor to ShopOne.

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