Inter Ikea Centre Group, the property development arm of Swedish furniture giant Ikea, is seeking a buyer for two shopping centres in the Austrian cities of Linz and Graz.
Inter Ikea Centre Group, the property development arm of Swedish furniture giant Ikea, is seeking a buyer for two shopping centres in the Austrian cities of Linz and Graz.
The Kastrup, Denmark-headquartered shopping mall developer has mandated Örag Österreichische Realitäten on an exclusive basis to manage the sale of the company owning Center Haid and Center West in Austria.
Although the owner did not set an official asking price for the assets, the deal is expected to be in the low three-digit figures. It is understood that IICG is selling the assets to finance its expansion in the Far East including China, where the company recently announced a 15 bn yuan (EUR 1.7 bn) development spree. Earlier this month IICG announced the start of a massive 5 billion yuan project in Shanghai.
The shopping centres in Austria are nearly fully let and offer 43,000 m2 and 49,000 m2 of gross lettable area spread over 60 and 80 shops. Both assets are of institutional quality and rank among Austria's top 10 largest shopping centres.
Linz's Haid Center opened in 1991 anchored by an IKEA furniture store (not included in the transaction) and a Maximarkt hypermarket. Center West in Austria's second largest city started trading in 1989 and currently boasts one of the highest visitor numbers in the country, with over 4.5 million visitors per year, also from neighboring countries such as Slovenia and Croatia.
Örag Österreichische Realitäten said it has already received several expressions of interest from local and international qualified investors. Binding offers are expected by the end of October, with the entire process planned to be completed by year-end.
