Corio buys Ikea store next to Turin mall

Retail property specialist Corio is acquiring an Ikea store in Turin in order to redevelop it to add value to Corio's adjacent Le Gru shopping centre. Under the agreement with Ikea, the furniture retailer will lease the Ikea unit back until a new store in Collegno slated for May 2009 is completed and delivered.

Corio said that once Ikea moves out, the 14,500 m² retail will be redeveloped for new tenants to the tune of EUR 3 mln and re-opened in the first part of 2010. The Netherlands-based retail specialist said Le Gru is the dominant centre in Turin. The acquisition of the Ikea store will enable Corio Italia to further strengthen Le Gru as retail destination, with a total gross lettable area of 80,000 m2, Corio said.

Le Gru is Corio Italia's second largest and Corio's fourth largest shopping centre in value. Le Gru was one of the first large shopping centres in Italy when it opened in 1994. It has a total gross lettable area of 65,000 m² of which Corio owns 32,000 m². The shopping centre had a net asset value at end-2007 of EUR 291.5 mln. The anchor tenant of the centre is Carrefour. Other main tenants are amongst others: Fnac, Media World, Zara, Disney Store and Feltrinelli Village. Corio Italia has won several awards or merits with Le Gru .

While the actual purchase price for the Ikea store transaction was not disclosed, Corio said the price per m² gross lettable area will be approximately one third of that of Le Gru's value and the expected average yield will be at least in line with Le Gru's.

Corio is one of the largest listed property investment companies with a focus on European retail. Shopping centres in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey made up 84% of Corio's portfolio of EUR 7.1 bn on 30 June 2008. Corio, which is listed on Euronext Amsterdam, manages its own shopping centres.