French property group Altarea announced on Wednesday that it has agreed the sale of a portfolio of 3,500 housing units to CDC Habitat for a price of €825 mln excluding taxes.
The transaction – one of the largest in France so far this year – was signed by Altarea on behalf of some of its funds and other unnamed residential investors under a forward sale structure.
Altarea also said that it is in negotiations with CDC Habitat on the sale of a further portfolio of over 2,000 housing units already under construction.
Despite most of the company’s activities having stopped due to the coronavirus crisis, Altarea is looking ahead with confidence with €2.67 bn of available cash.
‘The health crisis had a strong impact on our activities, but the Altarea teams responded to this unprecedented challenge with exceptional mobilization, and I would like to thank them,’ said founder and CEO Alain Taravella. ‘In all of our businesses, we have been able to organize ourselves in the face of the emergency linked to the shutdown of the entire operational chain (development, notarized sales, construction, operation). Altarea is mobilized, as rarely in its history, towards breaking out of containment and resuming activity. All of our teams are already working to reopen our shopping centers, restart our construction sites, revive notarial sales and, more generally, revive the dynamic that was ours before the crisis.’
