Dutch financial Group ING's Nationale-Nederlanden insurance arm is buying a 50% stake in the Espace René Coty shopping centre in the Northern French port city of Le Havre from CBRE Global Investors, PropertyEU has learned.
Dutch financial Group ING's Nationale-Nederlanden insurance arm is buying a 50% stake in the Espace René Coty shopping centre in the Northern French port city of Le Havre from CBRE Global Investors, PropertyEU has learned.
Nationale-Nederlanden, which operates as NN Group and is being advised on the deal by CBREGI, will own the mall jointly with French retail specialist Klépierre, which already owns a 50% interest in the scheme.
According to a notice posted by the EU's competition authority, NN Group's INS Holding France SAS subsidiary is acquiring the stake from CBRE GI's Retail Property Fund France Belgium core fund.
The 50% stake is being acquired for €63 mln.
Built in 1999, the scheme is anchored by a Monoprix store and provides a total of 27,000 m2 of retail space over 70 units as well as 1,000 parking spaces in the Normandy region of France. The mall is over 99% occupied.
Klépierre bought the 4,100 m2 Monoprix store from the occupier in a sale-and-leaseback transaction worth just over €15 mln in late 2013.
Jeroen de Grunt, portfolio manager at CBRE Global Investors said: 'This was a rare opportunity to buy a 50% stake in a well performing core shopping centre. The acquisition fits with our clients strategy as they have been partly targeting regional or dominant local shopping centres with a stable income profile.'
He added: 'We have been actively buying for our client and in H1 have invested approximately €400 mln in various retail and logistics properties across Europe.'
NN Group declined to comment on the deal.
GOING IT ALONE
NN Group is to be spun off from its parent group, ING, as part of a deal which allowed ING to receive €10 bn in state support during the credit crisis.
Last week, NN Group joined forces with Allianz to acquire the Fiumara shopping centre in the northern Italian city of Genoa. As with the deal in Le Havre, the vendor is CBRE Global Investors.
The Fiumara scheme provides around 25,000 m2 of retail space across 120 retail units over three levels and includes an Uci multiplex as well as a 15,000 m2 amusement park. CBRE Global Investors will continue to asset manage the Fiumara centre following the sale.
With the purchase, the scheme returns to the ING fold, albeit temporarily until the split with NN is finalised. ING initially bought the centre in 2008 through its investment management unit ING REIM, which was later taken over by CBRE GI. ING REIM paid €240 mln at the time for the scheme, representing a yield of 5%. The vendor was the Schroder European Property Investments N1 fund.