Belgian REIT Leasinvest Real Estate has sold its entire Swiss portfolio and made two acquisitions in Austria as part of a strategic refocus of the business.
Leasinvest announcd the deals on Tuesday and said it was focusing its activities on three countries, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria.
'The focus on two assets classes, retail buildings in Luxembourg and Austria, and offices in Luxembourg and Belgium, is a source of value creation and strengthens our efficiency,' commented CEO Jean-Louis Appelmans.
Leasinvest sold its Swiss portfolio consisting of three fully-let shops located in Etoy, Villeneuve and Yverdon-les-Bains, all in the Vaud Canton. The assets were acquired by an unnamed Swiss private investor for CHF 48 mln (€41 mln), reflecting a gross yield of slightly above 5%.
Leaseinvest had acquired the properties in November 2015 for CHF 45 mln, or a gross initial yield of over 6%. The decision to exit Switzerland, the company said, was prompted by the ongoing decrease in real estate yields, largely due to the rise of the Swiss franc at the beginning of 2015, which resulted in strongly negative interest rates.
The Belgian REIT acquired two retail assets in Austria, in district no 22 Stadlau of the City of Vienna in a share deal worth €56.2 mln. The properties are a 13,300 m2 Hornbach Baumarkt DIY shop and 10 shops providing 11,000 m2 at the Gewerbepark Stadlau retail park in Vienna. The assets are fully let and generate a total annual rent of €3.2 mln.
The acquisition was financed by the sale of the Swiss retail portfolio, as well as through the sale of a stake in a non-core logistics portfolio for €60 mln.
The three-property strong portfolio sale in Belgium means Leaseinvest has reduced the share of logistics in its portfolio from 14% to roughly 7%.
