CEE-focused property firm Immofinanz has acquired eight retail parks in Austria, Serbia, Czech Republic and Croatia from Belgian investor, Mitiska REIM, and two other sellers.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The eight sites will be rebranded Stop Shop, Immofinanz's retail park brand for CEE, bringing the chain to 98 locations across nine countries.
The transaction comprises six fully rented retail parks in Serbia and the Czech Republic covering roughly 43,000 m2 purchased from Mitiska REIM.
In addition, Immofinanz closed the purchase of a fully rented 5,000 m2 retail park in Voitsberg, Austria, during the fourth quarter of 2020, plus a park in Ludbreg, Croatia.
Dietmar Reindl, chief operating officer of Immofinanz, said: 'Our Stop Shops are a cost-efficient, high-yielding and crisis resilient retail format. High standardisation allows us to offer our tenants attractive rents and operating costs. Another important factor is our concentration on low-cost convenience products, which are very popular with consumers in difficult economic times.
'This concept has also proven successful during the Covid-19 pandemic: We saw a very quick recovery in the number of visitors after the end of the first lockdown. Discounters, in particular, benefit from customers‘ increasing price consciousness.'
The expected annual rental income from these recently acquired properties totals approximately €5.7 mln, and the gross return ranges up to 8.9%, for example in Serbia.
With a 7.7% gross return the average yield of the acquired retail parks is above the portfolio average of Stop Shop, yielding 7.4% as of Q3 2020.
Added Reindl: 'Our plans include an increase to 140 Stop Shop locations over the medium-term, whereby we intend to focus on our markets in CEE, Southeast Europe and Austria and selective entry into other West European countries.'
Tomas Cifra, investment director CEE at Mitiska REIM, said: 'We are very pleased to have concluded this transaction with Immofinanz following the completion of our value creation programme, and that our retail parks have found a new stable home at a reputable strategic buyer with a clear vision and strong ambition with regard to retail parks.'
