NREP spends big on Danish retail assets

Nordic Real Estate Partners (NREP) has completed a number of retail property purchases in the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus.

The total investment volume came to €110 mln.

The assets, totalling 41,000 m2 of retail space, were acquired in six individual transactions on behalf of NREP's Nordic Retail Fund 2.

Lender Nykredit provided financing for the deal.

The largest of the properties, shopping centres Holte Midtpunkt and Frihedens Butikscenter were acquired from Danish real estate company Dades.

Holte Midtpunkt is located in the town of Holte, about 18 kilometres north of Copenhagen. The shopping centre was built in 1975 and underwent a major renovation and expansion in 1997, leading to a total area of 5,700 m2 with 23 shops.

Frihedens Butikscenter (Freedom shopping centre) is located in Hvidovre, about 10 kilometres southwest of the centre of Copenhagen. Built in 1970 and expanded and renovated in 2005, the centre comprises two grocery stores and 29 specialty shops over 12,000 m2.

NREP has also acquired the Veri Center local centre in Aarhus from the AAB housing organisation. The scheme is anchored by grocery retailers Kvickly and Netto. In addition, NREP will take over Taastrup Torv from its developer following a successful opening of the asset. Finally, the investor is buying three single Fakta shops in Copenhagen, Odense and Kolding.

'The recently completed investments fit perfectly with our focused strategy of acquiring well-located retail assets that are relevant to the customers' daily shopping needs,' said Rasmus Nørgaard of NREP. 'We are very enthusiastic about the stable necessity segment in which we, with focus on the right prime locations combined with our asset management skills can create a a very attractive risk-adjusted return for our investors.'

'We plan to continue the investment activities in this segment during 2014 and look forward to working with the assets we have just acquired,' added Rune Hoejby Kock, head of transactions for NREP in Denmark.