Redevco Iberian Ventures, the joint venture between asset manager Ares Management and pan-European retail investor Redevco, has acquired more than 70% of the gross leasable area in one of Madrid’s largest retail centres.
The majority stake in the Parque Corredor Shopping Center was acquired for around €140 mln through transactions with Spanish 'bad bank' Sareb, a fund advised by Aermont Capital, and various other co-owners of the property.
Parque Corredor comprises more than 123,000 m2 of retail and leisure area and is the main shopping destination in Madrid’s east corridor, known as Corredor del Henares.
Bill Benjamin, head of the Ares Real Estate Group, said the deal was representative of its strategy ‘to acquire quality assets that are in need of investment and repositioning to unlock their value. Parque Corredor attracts more than 10 million visitors a year, making it one of the top 25 retail locations in Spain by footfall, and we believe that through active management and investment, we can further improve consumer traffic and tenant mix before returning this asset to institutional ownership’.
Andrew Vaughan, Redevco’s CEO, said Iberian Ventures will invest more than €40 mln in refurbishing the asset and renewing the shopping environment, in line with the JV’s value-add strategy. ‘The refurbishment plans were already approved by the community of co-owners in July 2017 and have the full support of the center’s longstanding fashion tenants, which are highly committed to the future of Parque Corredor,’ he said.
Cushman & Wakefield, Deloitte and Simmons & Simmons advised on the transaction.
Parque Corredor attracts more than 10.5 million visitors annually. Tenants include a 24,000 m2 Alcampo Hypermarket (Auchan Group) and fashion brands Primark, Inditex Group, H&M, Mango, Kiabi and C&A, as well as a Cinesa movie theatre.
Redevco Iberian Ventures was created by Ares and Redevco in September 2015 to target €500 mln of value-add and opportunistic investments in retail properties on the Iberian Peninsula. The Parque Corredor acquisition follows two major deals in 2017: the sale of a portfolio of nine retail parks across Spain for €193 mln as well as the acquisition of the Mercado San Miguel in Madrid for €70 mln.
