Retail Estates, a Belgian real estate investment trust (REIT), has boosted the value of its holdings in the Netherlands massively by acquiring a €196 mln retail boulevard portfolio from CBRE Global Investors.
CBRE Global Investors sold the 'peripheral retail portfolio' on behalf of the CBRE Dutch Retail Fund.
The assets are Boulevard Heerlen Plein 1 and Boulevard Heerlen Plein 2 in the south-eastern city of Heerlen, Limburg Province; Woonboulevard Zwolle in the north-eastern city of Zwolle, Gelderland Province and Retailpark Cruquius, located in Haarlemmermeer, North Holland Province.
The portfolio consists of 83 retail units, with a total floor area of 135,000 m2. The occupancy rate is close to 100%.
Rik Eertink, fund manager of the CBRE Dutch Retail Fund: 'The portfolio has been optimised for this sale through active asset management and we are satisfied with the investment result achieved for our investors. This sale is an important step in the realization of the refined strategy of the fund. The fund only focuses on the best urban retail locations in the Netherlands.'
CBRE acted as advisor to seller CBRE Global Investors. Houthoff provided legal support to the seller. Van Doorne supervised the transaction in the legal field on behalf of the buyer.
This is the latest in a string of pre-Christmas transactions, which PropertyEU Research has said will help propel the 2017 full-year investment volume for the Netherlands to a new record of €21 bn.
Dutch expansion
Retail Estates said the investment totalled €205.44 mln, including real estate transfer tax and notary fees. The fair value of this investment amounts to €196.70 mln.
The portfolio provides an additional net rent on an annual basis of €13.44 mln. The initial yield on these rents compared to the total investment is 6.54% (gross initial yield 6.74%). The occupancy rate of the retail parks has been greater than 99% for over 15 years.
The buyer said that retail parks at Cruquius (Haarlemmermeer) and Heerlen are among the top ten retail parks in the Netherlands.
The Dutch real estate portfolio after this acquisition now represents a total fair value of €268.64 mln - an increase of more than 270%. 'As a result, Retail Estates can count itself among the select club of leading institutional investors in the out-of-town segment,' the company said in a statement.
The value of Retail Estate's overall portfolio of Belgian and Dutch retail real estate stood at €1.15 bn at end-September 2017.
