Paris-headquartered Bradford Asset Management has acquired a retail park in Orange, in the south of France, from Commerz Real for €35.5 mln.
The asset, dubbed Orange Les Vignes, was acquired for Bradford's RPCI fund. The park had been in the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest since its completion in 2010.
Mario Schüttauf, a fund manager for Hausinvest, said: 'Following the successful repositioning we have utilised the ongoing demand to attain a good result for our investors through the sale of this retail property which no longer suits our fund strategy.'
Commerz Real said it carried out investments in new play areas and sanitary facilities, among other measures, and improved communication with local residents. As a consequence of the measures implemented by property manager Terranae, the vacancy rate was lowered from 30% in 2016 to about 7%. The number of visitors to the centre has also continually increased since 2017, Commerz Real added.
Orange Les Vignes, with a retail trading area of about 30,500 m2, is located south of the town of Orange in the Vaucluse département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
The main tenants are Jardipassion, Stokomani and Kiabi. The weighted remaining term of the lease agreements is approx. 3.5 years. The centre, which covers a total area of around 89,000 m2, also has 1,234 car parking spaces.
Commerz Real was advised on the transaction by Savills (broker) and Fidal (tax consulting).
