Belgian retail property investor Mitiska REIM has announced the sale of a French and Portuguese retail park to Sogenial Immobilier, a €1 bn real estate fund manager headquartered in Paris. Financial details were not disclosed.
The sale, which was made on behalf of Mitiska’s FRI 2 fund, marks the completion of Mitiska REIM’s value-creation programs for these assets, and follows similar divestments in Belgium, Portugal and Romania over the past three months which have delivered more than €500 mln of sales proceeds.
Under the terms of the deal, Sogenial Immobilier has acquired Retail Park Val Saint-Clair in Hérouville-Saint-Clair near Caen, and Lima Retail Park located north of Porto in the city of Viana do Castelo.
Retail Park Val Saint-Clair was Mitiska REIM’s first acquisition in France in 2017. Comprising 19 units with a total gross leasable area (GLA) of 17,453 m2, the retail park is food-anchored by an adjacent Carrefour shopping center. Tenants include Electro Depot, Action, JYSK, Go Sport, KFC, Chaussea and Maxi Zoo.
Over the past five years, Mitiska REIM’s value-add program has transformed the retail park by repositioning the property to become a local convenience hub.
Lima Retail Park was acquired in 2019 and has a GLA of 10,763 m2, comprising 12 units with tenants that include Maxmat, Hôma, Sports Direct, Kiwoko and Fábrica dos Óculos. Following a rebranding and refurbishment program two years ago, the retail park has received a “Good” BREEAM certification.
Sylvie Geuten-Carpentier, managing partner at Mitiska REIM, commented: 'We continue to see significant interest from buyers for high quality retail park assets that have now reached core status. In December last year, we successfully realized all assets in the FRI fund and these sales today are part of an ongoing program of divestments from the FRI 2 fund as our value-add programs reach completion.'
Axel Despriet, co-founder and managing partner at Mitiska REIM, added: 'Looking forward, we see a unique opportunity in convenience real estate in both France and Portugal and across our other European markets, spanning retail parks, multi-let light industrial, self storage and urban logistics. With fundraising on track for our third flagship fund, MEREP 3, we believe that 2024 could be an exceptional vintage year on the back of the dry powder available to take advantage of the current market environment.'
