Carmila, the new shopping centre landlord created by French retail giant Carrefour, is looking to increase its gross rents and portfolio value by 50% every three years.
Carmila, the new shopping centre landlord created by French retail giant Carrefour, is looking to increase its gross rents and portfolio value by 50% every three years.
The new strategy is part of the parent group’s plan to regain control of strategic Carrefour-anchored shopping centres across Europe, Carmila’s newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer Jacques Ehrmann told PropertyEU in an interview. He put the company’s spending target at over €1 bn by 2018, largely to be deployed in France, Spain and Italy.
The sum comes on top of the €2.7 bn worth of assets recently acquired in separate transactions with French REIT Klépierre and parent company Carrefour.
‘The next few years will be about growth,’ the 54-year old manager said. ‘We estimate that there are roughly €16 bn of shopping centres in these three European countries that we do not own, and around a quarter of them change hands every five years. Our plan is to acquire a share of 20 to 30% of these investment assets in the near future.’
The new retail property company was financed with roughly €1.8 bn in equity while a consortium of banks provided a further €900 mln in debt, giving the company significant firepower for acquisitions.
‘We intend to continue to buy assets on the market in order to further develop our portfolio,’ commented Ehrmann. ‘We have the financial strength to do that and, if we need further capital, we have already agreed in principle on the terms for a capital increase.’