Austria's Ca Immo and Germany's Union Investment have sold two shopping centres in the Czech Republic for a total of around EUR 96 mln, in the largest retail property deal in the country since 2008. The buyer is an unnamed Czech investor.
Austria's Ca Immo and Germany's Union Investment have sold two shopping centres in the Czech Republic for a total of around EUR 96 mln, in the largest retail property deal in the country since 2008. The buyer is an unnamed Czech investor.
The Olympia shopping mall in Teplice and the Mladá Boleslav scheme in the Central Bohemian region are fully let and offer 32,000 m2 and 22,000 m2 of space respectively. Anchor tenant in both centres is the international supermarket chain, Ahold.
The assets have been held since 2003 in the portfolio of the C1 Fund, in which CA Immo's Europolis subsidiary has a 51% holding and Union Investment Real Estate the remaining 49% via its UniImmo: Europa open-ended real estate fund.
'This successful sale is a first step in the strategy we announced at the start of the year, of focusing our portfolio in terms of both type of use and region,' said Bruno Ettenauer, CEO of CA Immo. 'The transaction also underlines the perceptible upturn in the property investment market in Eastern Europe.'
Frank Billand, member of Union's Management Board noted that 'the sales price, which is higher than the expert valuation, emphasises that now is the right time to be disposing of the two properties'. 'But the Czech Republic still remains an attractive investment market for us,' he added.
James Chapman, head of Capital Markets at C&W Czech & Slovakia which advised the buyer, said it is encouraging that the deal involves shopping centres outside of the capital city, demonstrating confidence in the Czech retail market as a whole. 'We expect to see more large retail deals completing during the next two months as both Czech and international investors look to increase their exposure to this sector,' Chapman said.
