Grosvenor Fund Management (GFM), the private fund management arm of the Duke of Westminster's property group Grosvenor, is close to clinching the purchase of two shopping centres in Marseille and near Reims for around EUR 150 mln, PropertyEU has learned.
Grosvenor Fund Management (GFM), the private fund management arm of the Duke of Westminster's property group Grosvenor, is close to clinching the purchase of two shopping centres in Marseille and near Reims for around EUR 150 mln, PropertyEU has learned.
The assets are being divested by Unibail-Rodamco as part of its strategy to focus on dominant shopping centres.
Well-informed market sources say the deal is expected to be signed within the next month. C&W is believed to be advising the vendor.
All parties declined to comment.
The transaction would be GFM's second with Unibail-Rodamco after the purchase last month of a portfolio of three shopping centres and a stand-alone retail unit in Sweden for SEK 2.4 bn (EUR 268 mln). The 98,000-m2 portfolio including Haninge Centrum, Väsby Centrum, and Balsta Centrum in Stockholm and a property let to ICA Maxi in Helsingborg, was put on the market by Unibail-Rodamco in the fall of 2010 as part of its refocusing on large prime schemes.
Unibail-Rodamco has secured roughly EUR 700 mln of sales so far this year. Europe's largest listed property company is also believed to have appointed Cushman & Wakefield to sell a EUR 180 mln Spanish portfolio consisting of Albacenter in Albacete, Equinoccio in Madrid, Barnasud in Barcelona and the Dos Hermanas Factory Outlet Centre in Sevilla.
GFM is a major investor in the French commercial property market. Earlier this year, the company acquired the Provence Opéra shopping gallery in Paris for EUR 23.5 mln and the Heron Park development at Villeneuve d'Ascq in Lille from Gerald Ronson's Heron International for EUR 95 mln.
