Allianz buys 50% stake in 7 SES malls

Allianz Real Estate is acquiring a 50% stake in a 226,000 m2 portfolio of seven shopping centres as part of a new joint venture with Austrian company SES Spar European Shopping Centers.

Allianz said the malls are located in key cities of Austria, Slovenia and Northern Italy but did not disclose details of the individual assets.

However, PropertyEU understands that two malls - Citypark and Citycenter - are located in the Slovenian cities of Ljubljana and Celje, and provide roughly 90,000 m2 of space. The Italian malls - Le Brentelle and Ipercity - are situated in the city of Padua and offer 67,000 m2. The remaining three are in Austria, respectively Atrio in Villach (38,500 m2), Sillpark in Innsbruck (29,800 m2) and Q19 in Vienna (19,200 m2).

The transaction will be submitted to the antitrust authorities in Brussels and is expected to be completed by 1 July, an SES spokesperson said.

Financial details were kept confidential.

SES will continue to be responsible for asset management of the shopping centres.

'Allianz Real Estate is continuing its strategy of working as an investor with successful companies in joint ventures. With SES being one of the foremost shopping centre operators, we have found a powerful, long-term partner,' commented Charles Pridgeon, chief investment officer of Allianz Real Estate.

The deal is part of Allianz Real Estate's strategy to increase its exposure to retail properties. Earlier this week, PropertyEU reported that Allianz was planning new acquisitions in Italy after having been virtually absent from the property investment market for the last 12 months.

‘We want to regain our leading role in the Italian property market,’ Allianz Real Estate's new head of Southern Europe Mauro Montagner told PropertyEU in an exclusive interview. (For more, see link below)