German shopping centre developer Management fur Immobilien (MFI) has confirmed it is participating in the competition to design the new shopping centre for the city of Göppingen. It has made a EUR 150 mln bid to build a 18,000 m[sup]2[/sup] scheme on the site currently housing the bus station. Portuguese developer Sonae Sierra and German peer ECE are also submitting a proposal.

German shopping centre developer Management fur Immobilien (MFI) has confirmed it is participating in the competition to design the new shopping centre for the city of Göppingen. It has made a EUR 150 mln bid to build a 18,000 m2 scheme on the site currently housing the bus station. Portuguese developer Sonae Sierra and German peer ECE are also submitting a proposal.

MFI, which since October 1 is majority-owned by private equity firm Perella Weinberg, is on the prowl for development opportunities after receiving a 'triple-digit' equity injection by the new shareholder. In an interview with PropertyEU, Chief Executive Matthias Böning said that most of the retail stock in the country - some 450 malls in total - is out-of-date while the tenant mix often needs to be upgraded. ‘'Weinberg has invested in MFI because they believe there is still room for shopping centre development in Germany, on the development side but mostly by restructuring existing centres.'

The group runs a total of 29 shopping centres in Germany, employing over 500 people. Ongoing projects include the redevelopment of the Paunsdorf Center mall in Leipzig, held in partnership with Ivanhoe Cambridge, the extension of Ruhrpark in Bochum, the development of Pasing Arcaden in Munich, as well as redevelopment of Höfe am Brühl in Leipzig and Forum Löhertor in Fulda.

'We have a further three-five projects in the development pipeline which will be financed with a mix of own equity and debt,' Böning notes. 'On completion, our development pipeline with have a value exceeding EUR 1.5 bn.'