Dutch retail investor Eurocommercial Properties has entered into exclusive negotiations with French REIT Altarea to buy a 42,000-m[sup]2[/sup] shopping centre in Sant Cugat del Valles, near Barcelona, well-informed market sources told PropertyEU.
Dutch retail investor Eurocommercial Properties has entered into exclusive negotiations with French REIT Altarea to buy a 42,000-m2 shopping centre in Sant Cugat del Valles, near Barcelona, well-informed market sources told PropertyEU.
The transaction volume is 'in excess of EUR 110 mln', the price Altarea paid back in 2006 to buy the asset.
The centre, which was put on the market in late 2010 through Morgan Stanley's Paris office, is said to have received as many as eight bids in December, with Eurocommercial emerging ahead of major investors including Unibail-Rodamco.
The sale is part of Altarea's plans to focus on its core markets of France and Italy and to pull out of the Spanish market on the back of difficult retail market conditions and major writedowns on its Spanish portfolio.
Altarea currently owns a total of three properties in Spain, which are the 38,000-m2 Faro Bahia shopping centre project in Puerto Real, near Cadiz and the 75,000-m2 Airon office development in Valdemoro, near Madrid. According to sources, discussions with Eurocommercial envisage the possibility to sell all of Altarea's assets in Spain.
The operation in Sant Cugat is understood to represent a yield of around 6%, which market experts say is quite low for the type of transaction it represents. Sources say the shopping centre offers the possibility to reduce the hypermarket and add space to the retail gallery, giving the deal a 'core plus' profile. The centre, with over 100 shops, has performed well since its completion in 1996.
