UK-based private equity firm Orion Capital Managers has finalised the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Puerto Venecia shopping centre project in Zaragoza, northern Spain, well-informed market sources have told PropertyEU. The price of the 50% stake, acquired from Spanish developer and investor Copcisa Corporaciónis, is believed to be around EUR 48 mln.
UK-based private equity firm Orion Capital Managers has finalised the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Puerto Venecia shopping centre project in Zaragoza, northern Spain, well-informed market sources have told PropertyEU. The price of the 50% stake, acquired from Spanish developer and investor Copcisa Corporaciónis, is believed to be around EUR 48 mln.
British Land, which stepped into the project in May 2006, is retaining its 50% stake in the venture. With 206,000 m2 and 250 units, Puerto Venecia is set to become one of Europe's largest shopping and leisure centres on completion.
The asset has an estimated value at completion of EUR 420 mln. The project is owned by a company named Eurofund Investments Zaragoza which has an elaborate financing facility of around EUR 300 mln from a banking syndicate comprising Royal Bank of Scotland and a group of local lenders. Copcisa, the investment company of the Carbonell family, is selling the asset in a bid to shore up its highly-leveraged investment portfolio.
The deal will enable construction of the second phase of the shopping mall to resume following a delay stemming from the difficult market conditions. Completion of the second phase is scheduled for autumn 2012. The adjoining retail park was completed in 2008 and now reportedly attracts some five million visitors a year.
Originally launched in 2000, the 50/50 joint venture between Spain's Copcisa and British Land marked the UK REIT's first foray into the Spanish market. Roughly 70% of the stores in the retail park and new shopping centre have now been pre-leased or sold, sources said.
Orion's Spanish deal follows hard on the heels of a landmark transaction in the London residential market. Last week, the company announced it has purchased a residential development site at 259 City Road, London EC1, on which it will develop a £150 mln (EUR 171 mln) luxury residential scheme. Orion claims it is one of the first residential schemes to be undertaken by a private equity fund.
Cushman & Wakefield acted on behalf of the seller.
