UK property development firm Heron International plans to dispose of its entire retail portfolio in Spain where it has been active for roughly two decades.
Heron, which owns London's Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed Heron Tower, has mandated agent CBRE to seek a buyer for its three Heron City open-air shopping centres located in Madrid and Valencia.
The sale, which was confirmed by CBRE, will take the form of a close bidding process with CBRE pitching to just a few investors. The broker is believed to be looking for institutional capital for this product, potentially joined by retail specialists.
The nearly fully let portfolio is believed to have a value of between €230-250 mln, and includes Heron City Las Rozas and Heron Diversia Alcobendas in Madrid, as well as Heron City Valencia, representing a total gross area of 84,000 m2 and 6,100 parking spaces, with about 12 million visitors a year. The schemes' performance has been 'remarkable' over the years, thanks to 'their unbeatable locations within well-established business parks surrounded by high purchasing power residential areas', an unnamed source told PropertyEU.
The disposal will comprise the Heron City platform including the right to use the Heron City brand in Spain. It represents the largest retail disposal currently taking place in the country at this time, according to those who track the market.
Opened in 1999, Heron City Las Rozas comprises 23,000 m2 including a 24-screen Cinesa megaplex cinema. Both Heron City Las Rozas and Heron City Paterna were developed by Heron, while Diversia was acquired in 2003. The scheme provides 26,000 m2 and was officially re-opened in August 2004.
Heron International also owned another scheme in Barcelona which it sold to Babcock & Brown and GPT at end-2006 for €138 mln. The company is believed to be selling as part of a strategy to redistribute capital and focus on other opportunities.
