French SIIC Klépierre saw retail sales increase by 1.2% during the first three quarters of the year as the retail market continues to improve across Europe. Retailers' appetite to is also starting to increase again, with Klepierre recently signing a number of new leases, including three rental agreements with H&M in its Hungarian shopping centres and a 12,000-m[sup]2[/sup] lease to Saturn in its Creteil Soleil mall in the Paris suburbs.
French SIIC Klépierre saw retail sales increase by 1.2% during the first three quarters of the year as the retail market continues to improve across Europe. Retailers' appetite to is also starting to increase again, with Klepierre recently signing a number of new leases, including three rental agreements with H&M in its Hungarian shopping centres and a 12,000-m2 lease to Saturn in its Creteil Soleil mall in the Paris suburbs.
'More than 1,400 leases have been signed since the beginning of the year - 6% of the value of the portfolio, for additional lease income of EUR 7.8 mln on a full year basis,' the French commercial property giant said.
Rental revenues increased by 3.1% in the first nine months of the year to around EUR 680 mln, it added. In addition to the transactions already committed, Klépierre has a current pipeline of EUR 2.3 bn in new investments, concentrated in the most robust regions of its portfolio (France and Scandinavia).
Last week, the company sold a Parisian office complex for a total of EUR 134.5 mln to Invesco Real Estate. Klepierre said that the price was 'higher than the latest appraised value for the asset'. The sale brings total disposals completed this year to over EUR 241 mln which, in light of negotiations currently in progress, should total some EUR 300 mln by the end of 2010.
Klépierre has invested EUR 371 mln since the beginning of the year, mostly in connection with projects underway, such as Le Millénaire in Aubervilliers, Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, Emporia in Sweden and Corvin, which this month opens its doors in Budapest.