Allianz Real Estate is acquiring 90% of Unibail-Rodamco's Nicétoile shopping centre in the southern French city of Nice. The investment volume of €312.5 mln reflects a net initial yield of 5.0%.
Allianz Real Estate is acquiring 90% of Unibail-Rodamco's Nicétoile shopping centre in the southern French city of Nice. The investment volume of €312.5 mln reflects a net initial yield of 5.0%.
The transaction was rumoured in October and Unibail-Rodamco confirmed on 9 November that the two sides had entered into a sales agreement.
The scheme comprises 15,389 m2 GLA of retail, 2,018 m2 GLA of offices and 1,852 parking lots. Footfall in the last 12 months totalled 13.1 million visits. The shopping centre will be managed by UK REIT Hammerson who will co-invest 10% alongside Allianz.
'We're delighted with the acquisition of Nicetoile, which means we will be adding the leading shopping center in the heart of downtown Nice, and located at the busiest avenue in the city, to our portfolio,' said Olivier Wigniolle, CEO of Allianz Real Estate France. 'We will also be working with our partner Hammerson, who already manages Espace Saint Quentin, our shopping center in Paris.'
Closing of the transaction is expected to occur during the first quarter of 2015.
'With the announcement of this transaction, Unibail-Rodamco largely completes the streamlining of its French shopping centre portfolio announced earlier this year,' said Unibail-Rodamco CEO Christophe Cuvillier. 'The group is pleased to have been able to reach agreements to dispose of its non-core assets in France within a 9-month period, rather than the 5 years envisioned at the time of the announcement of the disposal programme.'
DISPOSAL PROGRAMME
The disposal is the latest by Unibail-Rodamco in France. In October the Franco Dutch Group agreed the sale of a 233,300 m2 portfolio of six non core shopping centres in the heart of French cities to Amsterdam-listed Wereldhave for €850 mln, refecting a net initial yield of 5.5%.
Unibail-Rodamco announced in February this year that it was planning to sell between €1.5 and €2 bn of non core retail assets. Earlier this year the company signed a definitive agreement to sell six non-core shopping centres in France to Carmila - the property arm of retail group Carrefour - for €931 mln.
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