M&G Real Estate and GWM Group have inked a deal to acquire Market Central Da Vinci in Rome, the largest retail park in Italy, for €208 mln.
'This joint venture with GWM Group has allowed us to increase our average transaction size, with Market Central Da Vinci being the largest single acquisition we have made in Europe to date,' commented Simon Ellis, fund manager at the real estate business of UK asset manager M&G.
Under the terms of the deal, M&G RE will be majority shareholder. The 56,600 m2 retail park is located near Rome's Fiumicino airport and is fully let. Tenants include Nike, Decathlon, H&M, Leroy Merlin and Maisons du Monde.
Olivier Vellay, head of investment, Continental Europe at M&G RE added: 'Market Central Da Vinci presented a unique opportunity to invest in a high-quality retail park with a strong track record of rental growth and the prospect to build extensions. The scheme fits in with our continued European strategy to acquire prime assets in core locations and major cities.'
M&G RE has already completed €190 mln of acquisitions in the first half of 2016, including two offices in Paris and Barcelona and a mixed-use asset in Copenhagen, bringing totals invested in Continental Europe since March 2015 to €865 mln.
GWM is a European private wealth and institutional asset manager.
