Austrian listed property firm CA Immo has closed the sale of two land lease retail plots in Graz for around €55 mln, or a premium of around 50% to H1 2020 book value, to Ikea Austria and JM Offner Immobilien.
The two plots totalling around 107,000 m2 are fully let on a lease-hold basis to big-box retail occupiers OBI and Ikea respectively. On one of the plots is a built-to-suit big-box retail unit (OBI DIY store) built by JM Offner, which is leased to OBI.
The other plot is built up with an Ikea furniture store also in the form of a building on non-owned land. The properties generate an annualised gross rental income (GRI) of €2.4 mln per annum.
Keegan Viscius, chief investment officer of CA Immo, said: ‘Following the sale of Zagrebtower office building in October, this highly successful sale in Graz is another good example for our strategic capital rotation program where we seek to profitably divest assets where the incremental rate of return is below an acceptable level, or there is no strategic fit in our long term portfolio. The proceeds of sale are then reinvested into value accretive investments, including continued build out of our prime development pipeline as well as external acquisitions – illustrated by the recent acquisitions of the nearly fully let office buildings Karlsbad 11 in Berlin and Postepu 14 in Warsaw, both signed and closed in 2020.’
’With this disposal we have successfully sold our last two pure play retail assets and last assets in Austria outside our core city of Vienna. This disposal at a material premium to book value strongly supports our valuations during an uncertain market environment,’ added Hedwig Höfler, head of Investment Management AT & CEE.
