Pan-European open-ended real estate fund Encore+ has acquired El Tormes shopping centre in the Spanish city of Salamanca for €70 mln.
The fund is co-managed by Aviva Investors as fund manager, with LaSalle Investment Management as asset and transaction manager. El Tormes was acquired in a share deal from Retail Property Fund Iberica (RPFI), managed by CBRE Global Investors.
The shopping centre is spread over a total area of 22,600 m2, with over half of the units occupied by premium fashion retailers. Other key tenants include restaurants, supermarkets and speciality retailers. The centre has enjoyed consistently high occupancy levels, with many tenants present since the centre opened in 2000.
Jeffrey King, fund manager for Encore+ at Aviva Investors, said: 'In addition to Spanish retail being a core target for us, this new acquisition also fits well with our strategy of targeting dominant shopping centres in strong and sustainable locations across Europe. This asset is poised to benefit from the continued recovery in Spain, while also offering the potential for specific asset management initiatives to improve the centre’s performance.'
JLL and Hogan Lovells were advisers on the transaction.
Aviva and LaSalle said that Encore+ has a successful 10-plus years track record as a diversified, open-ended continental European real estate fund. The fund, the pair said, is 'enjoying significant momentum in both capital raising and deployment'. It broke through the €1 bn equity mark in late-2016, and now has total assets of more than €1.2 bn under management.
