Spanish real estate giant Metrovacesa is the frontrunner in the bidding to buy a EUR 1.1 bn portfolio of office properties from Dutch retail property specialist Corio, market insiders have told PropertyEU.
Spanish real estate giant Metrovacesa is the frontrunner in the bidding to buy a EUR 1.1 bn portfolio of office properties from Dutch retail property specialist Corio, market insiders have told PropertyEU.
Corio's office portfolio consists of 70 office buildings in the Netherlands and France with a total leasable area of 700,000 m2. The Dutch assets account for about EUR 700 mln of the total value.
A spokesperson for Metrovacesa would neither confirm nor deny that the company was in the race for the portfolio when contacted by PropertyEU on Wednesday.
A spokesperson at Corio said she was not aware at this stage which parties had made an offer. She added, however, that further information on the sale process was expected ' in the first half of 2008'.
Corio announced last year that it wanted to sell its office holdings to focus entirely on its retail portfolio valued at EUR 4.9 bn. The retail portfolio comprises about 100 retail properties - mostly shopping centres - in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, and Turkey. Apart from trophy assets such as the Hoog Catharijne shopping centre in Utrecht, the portfolio includes shopping centres in Paris, Grenoble, Madrid, Barcelona and Istanbul.
