IEF Capital completes EUR 741m retail acquisition

IEF Capital and other unnamed buyers have completed the acquisition of part of Rodamco Europe's Dutch high-street retail portfolio for EUR 741mln.

Unibail-Rodamco, the real estate giant formed from the merger of France’s Unibail and Rodamco of the Netherlands, said the sale was in line with its strategy 'to focus on owning and managing large-scale premium assets with leading competitive edge in key cities across Europe'.

The Franco-Dutch company said it will continue to pursue its selective disposal policy on an opportunistic basis.

The transaction reflected a net initial yield of 5.6%. This figure is based on the expected contribution of the assets to Unibail-Rodamco's rental income net of expenses for 2008 and a 3% premium to the external appraisers' valuation at end-December 2007.

'Compared to the initial transaction, announced on 30 January 2008, the closing price reflects a minor adjustment of scope as well as a final assessment of both the required capital expenditures and the passing rents at closing date,' Unibail-Rodamco said.

IEF Capital is a joint venture of Bouwfonds Asset Management and Inflation Exchange Fund (IEF). Late last year, Dutch property group Vastned Retail turned down as too low a hostile EUR 1.15bn bid from IEF Capital for Vastned' s portfolio of retail properties which has been valued at EUR 2bn.

But after shopping around for other potential buyers, Vastned Retail announced earlier this month it had decided to resume discussions with IEF Capital on an 'exclusive' basis.