UK-based REIT Hammerson has invested further in the European luxury retail sector with a £78 mln (€90 mln) equity injection in Value Retail’s European Villages.
UK-based REIT Hammerson has invested further in the European luxury retail sector with a £78 mln (€90 mln) equity injection in Value Retail’s European Villages.
In a statement to announce its first-half results, the London-based retail specialist said it has invested in La Vallée Village near Paris for the first time and increased its stakes in Las Rozas and La Roca villages located in the vicinity of the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona.
The transactions, amounting to a total of £56 mln, are part of the company's strategy to refocus the business exclusively on the retail segment.
In July the Anglo-French group also took a €25 mln participation in a refinancing of the senior loan facility at Fidenza Village, near Milan.
Overall Hammerson’s net interest in Value Retail stood at £578 mln at end-June 2013, accounting for 15% of the group’s EPRA net asset value.
‘Value Retail has continued to trade well and in line with expectations during the first half of 2013. Brand sales grew at a double-digit rate compared to the same period last year,’ the company said.
Value Retail's portfolio includes Bicester Village, Oxfordshire and La Vallée Village near Paris. In total, the luxury retail company owns nine villages valued at a total of €2.9 bn, reflecting an underlying increase of 5.7% since the end of 2012.
Hammerson owns 22% of the holding companies of Value Retail after having increased its stake by 10% last year.
