Corio in talks to acquire part of Multi's portfolio

Corio revealed on Friday that it has entered exclusive talks with international inner-city retail developer Multi Corporation to acquire part of Multi's portfolio. The statement confirms longstanding market rumours of talks between the two Netherlands-based companies.

Corio is primarily interested in a number of operational shopping centres, as well as centres under development, in a selected number of Western European countries. The focus is on Germany, and the main objective is to open a new home market, the Amsterdam and Paris-listed retail specialist said. 'At the same time we recognise the opportunity to combine top development with first-class operational skills by potentially teaming up in a number of projects,' Corio said in a statement.

The company emphasised that there was no assurance that a transaction of any kind would take place.

Corio is headquartered in the Dutch city of Utrecht. The company had an operating portfolio valued at EUR 5.5 bn at end-June this year. The portfolio consists of investments covering a gross lettable area (GLA) of 1.6 million m² in 109 projects, 94 of which are shopping centres. The firm's five home markets are the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

Multi is a leading commercial developer of inner-city retail space in Europe. The firm opened 10 retail schemes around Europe in the autumn of 2009 alone.

The Multi group has divisions dealing with property development, investment, asset management and property management. Multi is active in 14 countries, with the head office in the Netherlands and offices in Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Turkey.