CBRE Global Investors (CBRE GI) has purchased the Mongolfiera shopping centre in the southern Italian city of Lecce, for €61.8 mln. The vendor was Schroders.
'Mongolfiera Lecce has an excellent track record and shown resilience over the years with exceptional tenant sales performance. We have identified a number of asset management opportunities that will generate strong rental growth,' commented Florencio Beccar, head of EMEA retail, CBRE Global Investors.
'With the combination of a stable attractive income yield and rental growth potential, the asset is an excellent addition to our shopping centre portfolio and our first acquisition for this particular strategy in Italy,' added Beccar.
The shopping centre was opened in 1994 and comprises a hypermarket and an arcade. In 2006 it was extended and upgraded to include a food court area and an extended retail offer. CBRE Global Investors has acquired 11,365 m2, which excludes the Ipercoop hypermarket.
The other anchors of the single floor centre are MediaWorld, H&M and Piazza Italia. There are 48 tenants in total and the centre is 100% occupied.
According to CBRE, Mongolfiera is the dominant shopping destination in Lecce with a footfall of over four million visitors each year. 'The Italian retail sector is generally performing well on the back of the rebound in consumer confidence,' said Alberico Radice Fossati, transactions manager Italy, CBRE Global Investors. 'The investment fundamentals for this acquisition are solid and it should be a strong performer,' he concluded.
