ING Real Estate, GIC carry out largest ever single Italian retail property deal

Dutch real estate company ING Real Estate has teamed up with the property investment arm of GIC, one of the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, to buy the new Roma Est shopping centre near Rome from Italian food-retailing chain Gruppo PAM for EUR 400 mln.

ING Real Estate said on Tuesday that it has added its 50% stake in the property to its ING Retail Property Partnership Southern Europe (RPPSE) and ING Real Estate has been appointed asset manager.

The other 50% is held by Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), a sovereign wealth with assets thought to be worth over $300 bn (EUR 205 bn). GIC Real Estate manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of direct and indirect property investments with over 200 investments in more than 30 countries. It is one of the largest institutional investors in Asia and currently ranks amongst the world's top 10 global real estate investment firms.

Roma Est shopping centre consists of 92,700 m² of gross lettable area spread over 208 retail units, a hypermarket, 23 bars and restaurants and a 12-screen cinema. The mall is arranged over two above ground levels and has 10 large-area stores of over 1,000 m² and nine mid-sized units between 500-1,000 m². The main tenants include both international and national brands such as Panorama hypermarket, Vis Pathe multiplex cinema, Ovvio, Media World, Pellizzari, Piazza Italia, H&M, Apple and Zara. Roma Est is also served by a three-level car park with 6,000 spaces.

'We expect retail to continue to perform well in a market that is underprovided. Roma Est is one of the leading and state-of-the-art shopping centres in Italy thanks to a superb job by local developer PAM,' RPPSE fund director Maria de Rivera said. The fund has a target size of EUR 1.2 bn to be invested in retail properties in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

GIC Real Estate announced in January that it had entered a partnership agreement with the London-listed Russian developer PIK Group to develop a large urban area in the city of Mytischi, northeast of Moscow. GIC Real Estate will pay about EUR 161 mln for a 25% stake in the project. 'This investment provides GIC Real Estate with a strong entry into the Russian real estate market. We believe in the potential of the market and are excited to be partnering PIK, one of the largest developers in Russia, for this major Mytischi project,' said Dr Seek Ngee Huat, president of GIC Real Estate.