Corio adds to Turkish holdings

Corio has announced it is purchasing the Tekira shopping centre in the Western Turkish city of Tekirdag. The Amsterdam and Paris-listed retail property company said on Monday it had signed a forward purchase agreement to acquire Tekira on a let turnkey basis, with the total investment determined by the letting result. But the Dutch company said the transaction will reflect 'a predefined net initial yield in line with Corio's earlier acquisitions in Turkey'.

The developers and vendors of the shopping centre are the Eroglu Group and the Ozdoyuran Family. Once acquired, Corio will manage the Tekira shopping centre in-house.

Corio has now carried out eight transactions in Turkey since adding the country as a core market in 2005. Last July, Corio acquired a 20-year lease on the Zirvekent shopping centre in Ankara for around EUR 32 mln. In March, Corio acquired stakes in two malls under construction in Turkey for just over EUR 70 mln. Both deals reflected a net initial yield of 8%.

Prior to the latest two deals in Turkey and acquisition of a mall in Rotterdam for EUR 30 mln, some 81% of Corio's overall EUR 6 bn property portfolio consisted of retail assets, mainly shopping centres in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey, at end-June 2007. Turkey represented 5% of the 100 property, 1.1 million m² retail portfolio, the Netherland accounted for 38%, followed by France 24, Italy 20%, Spain 11% and other countries 1%.

Tekira shopping centre will offer 30,000 m² of gross lettable area. Delivery is expected in mid-2009.The city of Tekirdag, population 650,000 and growing, is located in the Marmara region, approximately 150 kilometres west of Istanbul on the European side of Turkey. The Marmara region is the most affluent region in Turkey and the per capita income level of Tekirdag is well above the Turkish average.