Carrefour's ceo Jose Luis Duran has hinted the company may not be averse to selling off some of its real estate portfolio, valued at EUR 20 bn. Duran told a conference call on the French retailer's 2006 results that there were no plans for a property sell-off. But when questioned on this, he pointedly didn't rule out a sale of some of its properties in the future. His comments came a day after a French billionaire, Bernard Arnault, and a US private equity fund, Colony Capital, announced they had acquired a 9.1% stake in the world's second-biggest retailer by sales.
Carrefour's ceo Jose Luis Duran has hinted the company may not be averse to selling off some of its real estate portfolio, valued at EUR 20 bn. Duran told a conference call on the French retailer's 2006 results that there were no plans for a property sell-off. But when questioned on this, he pointedly didn't rule out a sale of some of its properties in the future. His comments came a day after a French billionaire, Bernard Arnault, and a US private equity fund, Colony Capital, announced they had acquired a 9.1% stake in the world's second-biggest retailer by sales.
The two new investors may push for the French group to release capital by selling shopping malls or a stake in its property arm, set up in 2004 to consolidate its numerous properties. Carrefour owns 6 million m2 of real estate. Some 80% of the property assets are in Western Europe and the remainder is in Latin America.
Retailers and hotel chains around the world are increasingly looking to sale and leaseback deals to free up capital for further investment. Private equity firms often push for such deals to get a quick return on their investments.
