Union Investment has acquired a 23,445sqm hypermarket in Portugal’s capital on behalf of its open-ended UniInstitutional European Real Estate fund.

The manager has paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Continente Colombo hypermarket operated by food retailer Sonae MC in Lisbon.

Jamestown Europe made the sale on behalf of a separate account of a Luxembourg pension fund and was advised by Garrigues and Arcadis.

The Continente Colombo hypermarket forms part of the Colombo shopping centre, which opened in 1997.

Laura Roll, an investment manager at Union Investment, said: “With the acquisition of Continente Colombo, we are taking advantage of a great opportunity to further diversify our real estate portfolio in Iberia and enter the retail real estate segment in Portugal for the first time.”

Roman Müller, a senior investment manager at Union Investment, said: “With the acquisition of Continente Colombo we’ve succeeded in combining the two major focuses of our retail investment strategy, which constitutes of grocery-anchored retail on the one hand and on best-in-class shopping centres on the other hand. We will further continue to selectively expand our portfolio in both areas.”

Union Investment was advised by Linklaters, Cushman & Wakefield and Sonae Sierra, which will also manage the property on behalf of Union Investment.

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