Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, the oil-rich US state's wealth fund, has confirmed the creation of a joint venture with Immochan, the property arm of French hypermarket's group Auchan, to acquire two existing shopping centres in Spain and Portugal, as tipped by PropertyEU last week.
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, the oil-rich US state's wealth fund, has confirmed the creation of a joint venture with Immochan, the property arm of French hypermarket's group Auchan, to acquire two existing shopping centres in Spain and Portugal, as tipped by PropertyEU last week.
CBRE Global Investors is advising Alaska Permanent Fund on the acquisition, its first deal in Continental Europe.
Under the partnership agreement, Alaska will acquire 50% of the shares in the companies holding the Zenia Boulevard, a 83,000 m2 regional shopping centre located in the province of Alicante and Alegro Alfragide, a 39,000 m2 shopping centre located in Lisbon. The assets are valued at a total of around €280 mln.
Immochan will continue as property manager. Asset management will be shared between Immochan and CBRE Global Investors.
The transaction is due to close shortly, pending regulatory approvals.
For Immochan, the operation will help support its growth strategy which includes the development of 70 new shopping centres and extensions over the next three years, with a total investment plan of over €1.7 bn.
CBRE Global Investors was awarded the Continental European separate account mandate by APFC in January 2014. It is an extension of the companies' US relationship under which CBRE Global Investors manages a diverse portfolio of assets across North America on behalf of the fund. The European mandate is to build a core-core plus real estate portfolio across the Continent.
Mike Burns, CEO and executive director of Alaska Permanent Fund, commented: 'We look forward to expanding this strategic partnership as we work to build out our portfolio across the region.'
'We are seeing a growing trend of cross-border capital flow and with this being APFC’s first investment in Continental Europe, it is another strong indicator of investors looking to diversify their portfolios abroad,' added Myles Sanger, portfolio manager at CBRE Global Investors.
Alaska made its first foray into Europe in July with the acquisition of the Golden Square shopping centre in Warrington, UK for £141 mln, representing a net initial yield of 6.74%. The centre has a weighted average unexpired lease term of 8.88 years.
The legal advisers acting on behalf of Immochan were De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Uria Menéndez and Garrigues, while the real estate and financial advisers were Retail Partners Europe and PwC respectively.
The legal advisors acting for Alaska and CBRE Global Investors were Baker & McKenzie and AbreuOn, with Deloitte advising on the financial side.