Resolution Property has acquired McArthurGlen Roubaix, an outlet centre near Lille in France managed by McArthurGlen Designer Outlets, for EUR 23 mln. The vendor is the EUR 1.5 bn European Outlet Mall Fund (EOMF), managed by Henderson Global Investors.
Resolution Property has acquired McArthurGlen Roubaix, an outlet centre near Lille in France managed by McArthurGlen Designer Outlets, for EUR 23 mln. The vendor is the EUR 1.5 bn European Outlet Mall Fund (EOMF), managed by Henderson Global Investors.
The purchase, made on behalf of the Resolution Real Estate Fund III, reflects s a net initial yield of 8%.
Peter Todd, director at Resolution Property, said: 'McArthurGlen Roubaix is a well-located centre offering some excellent asset management opportunities that are firmly in line with Resolution's value-add strategy. It is an opportunity to extend our successful partnership with McArthurGlen and further our investment in outlet centres, where sales growth continues to outperform full price retail.'
This will be the company's second designer outlet village in France, following its purchase of McArthurGlen Troyes last year, also from EOMF.
Located in Roubaix, only 10 km from Lille, the centre spans 17,300 m2 of retail space, comprising 75 units. Main tenants include Adidas, Calvin Klein, Gaastra and Lacoste. Developed by McArthurGlen in 1999, the scheme formed part of a major urban revitalisation project in Roubaix's city centre. Resolution's active asset management strategy will target additional international brands to achieve full leasing of the centre, which has a current vacancy rate of 6%. Talks are already underway with several top retailers.
The centre is held on a long lease from the local authority and talks are well advanced to privatise management of the public realm to enable significant improvements to the retail and leisure experience. Resolution will also discuss the acquisition of the freehold in the longer term.
McArthurGlen will retain the management role at McArthurGlen Roubaix, working in partnership with Resolution Property.
McArthurGlen continue to see strong growth in their designer outlet model. There are plans underway to open a further three centres in Europe; one in Neumunster near Hamburg in 2012 (in partnership with Henderson's EOMF) and two in France (one west of Paris near Vernon in 2014 and the other in Miramas southern France) in 2015.
Jones Lang LaSalle acted on behalf of Resolution. EOMF, managed by Henderson Global Investors, was represented by Cushman & Wakefield. Law firm Herbert Smith France advised Resolution while Linklaters France acted on behalf of Henderson’s EOMF
