Mercialys teams up with Carlyle to bid for Cap 3000 mall

French retail specialist Mercialys is joining forces with US private equity group Carlyle to launch a bid for the Cap 3000 shopping centre in Nice. Mercialys' chief operating officer Gery Robert-Ambroix told PropertyEU in an interview that the mall offers several opportunities to add value through redevelopment and extension works.

'Cap 3000 is exactly what Mercialys likes, because there are lots of possibilities to create value,' he said, adding that the company nevertheless plans to remain 'reasonable' in terms of bidding. 'The other potential buyers are all retail professionals so I am confident that we will remain reasonable,' he said. Other bidders for the major retail scheme are said to include Unibail-Rodamco, Altarea, and Klépierre. Cap 3000 is being sold by Galerie La Fayette through HSBC for a price of around EUR 400 mln, or a yield of 5.5%.

If successfull, the operation would represent Mercialys' first joint venture with the European property arm of the Carlyle Group.

Mercialys is a French retail specialist created in 2005 from the spin-off of retailer Casino's property assets. Robert-Ambroix said the company plans to maintain its focus on the French retail property market and ruled out expanding to other European countries. 'We don't think that there are lots of synergies by entering into another country,' he told PropertyEU.