Pradera is buying €900m of European IKEA property and has launched a pan-European fund.
The retail-focused fund manager is taking over 25 retail parks next to IKEA stores in eight European countries.
The €900m transaction has been funded by private wealth manager LJ Partnership, which last April took a stake in Pradera.
A new fund, Pradera European Retail Parks, has been launched to hold the 538,000sqm portfolio.
Pradera expects to complete the purchase of 17 assets in Germany, France and Poland by April, and eight assets in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Switzerland by August.
David Fletcher, chief executive of Pradera, said the fund was established to invest in income-producing retail parks across Europe.
“As the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, IKEA is a strong anchor in these locations,” he said.
“These parks have been developed and managed by IKEA Centres and are let to major tenants including Media Markt, OBI, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin. They greatly benefit from the drawing power that IKEA stores brings to these locations.”
Pradera said it planned to expand the business further this year.
Last year, it entered Asia through a joint venture with Macquarie Retail Real Estate Management.
Pradera Retail Asia, headquartered in Hong Kong, has €900m of assets under management in China.
