A group of investors led by Domingo Diaz de Mero is planning to buy a 10% stake in Colonial after the Spanish firm merges with peer Inmocaral. The investors interested in Colonial are part of the investment group Global Consulting, which is chaired by Mero and also includes the Sanahuja family, Metrovacesa's majority shareholder, the Spanish daily newspaper Cinco Dias has reported.

A group of investors led by Domingo Diaz de Mero is planning to buy a 10% stake in Colonial after the Spanish firm merges with peer Inmocaral. The investors interested in Colonial are part of the investment group Global Consulting, which is chaired by Mero and also includes the Sanahuja family, Metrovacesa's majority shareholder, the Spanish daily newspaper Cinco Dias has reported.

Once merged with Immoracal, Colonial is planning to launch an international subsidiary focused on development of shopping centres in Europe. The new unit will convert old railway stations into modern malls, using a strategy pioneered by Riofisa, for which Colonial offered EUR 2 bn to takeover the group. Riofisa, which reached an agreement with Spain's railway group Renfe, has already transformed five old stations into retail centres and is poised to raise this number to 11 by 2010.

Colonial's chairman Luis Portillo said he intends to use Riofisa's formula and sell it 'to the big capital cities of the world.' This new property group will work closely with Spanish developer FCC, in which Colonial holds a 15% stake.

Riofisa's portfolio includes business parks, office and logistics properties in Spain, Romania and Bulgaria. Portillo said that 'it would have taken ten years to start a new group focused on this business from scratch' and that Riofisa was 'the leg we were missing', Spanish newspaper BolsaCinco reported.

Colonial will have assets valued at EUR 12.55 bn after the merge, becoming Europe's fourth property group by assets, after Metrovacesa (EUR 19.15 bn), Land Securities (EUR 16.18 bn) and British Land (EUR 15.94 bn).