Plaza Centers, a leading emerging markets property developer, said on Tuesday it has sold the Arena Plaza shopping mall in Budapest to UK-based Active Asset Investment Management (AAIM), for about EUR 400 mln. Designed and developed by Plaza Centers following the purchase of the site in 2005, Arena Plaza is Hungary's largest shopping and entertainment centre. The deal is part of AAIM's £2 bn acquisition programme for its European Symmetry Fund launched in September 2006 in partnership with Bank of Scotland.

Plaza Centers, a leading emerging markets property developer, said on Tuesday it has sold the Arena Plaza shopping mall in Budapest to UK-based Active Asset Investment Management (AAIM), for about EUR 400 mln. Designed and developed by Plaza Centers following the purchase of the site in 2005, Arena Plaza is Hungary's largest shopping and entertainment centre. The deal is part of AAIM's £2 bn acquisition programme for its European Symmetry Fund launched in September 2006 in partnership with Bank of Scotland.

Completion of the transaction is expected to take place within a month of Arena Plaza's opening date at end 2007. The final purchase price will be decided on the basis of the actual rent levels achieved, but will not be less than EUR 380 mln, the company said in a statement. Plaza Centers will remain responsible for the letting of the centre's remaining units for a period of up to one year following the closing of the transaction. The mall comprises 220 stores located throughout about 66,000 m2 of lettable area and is serviced by 2,800 parking spaces. Amongst the international anchor tenants of the centre are Tesco, the Inditex Group and Peek & Cloppenburg, together with other major retailers such as H&M, Electro World, Hervis and C&A. Arena Plaza will also accommodate a 23-screen Cinema City complex. The centre is currently over 85% pre-let.

Ran Shtarkman, Plaza Centers' CEO, said: 'We look forward to fulfilling our management role on behalf of AAIM over the coming months to fully complete and lease up the project. We will also continue to further diversify and enrich the company's portfolio through the development of other high quality shopping and entertainment centres and mixed used projects both in the Central and Eastern European region and India.'