Rockcastle gains foothold in Poland with €52m shopping mall

Mauritius and Johannesburg-listed real state investor Rockcastle has acquired a regional shopping centre in Poland. The investment volume of €52 mln reflects an initial yield of 7.7%.

The 18,000 m2 Solaris Centre (Galeria Handlowa) in Opole is a three-storey mall with tenants including C&A, Instersport, New Yorker and Rossman, on a weighted average lease term of 4 years.

Rockcastle is in the final stages of agreeing a public-private partnership deal with the vendor, Warsaw-based Coucal, a subsidiary of Alterco SA, and the city of Opole to acquire an adjacent building with a further 9,000 m2 of retail space.

Earlier this month Rockcastle raised ZAR 2 bn (€150 mln) in an oversubscribed share placement scheme that doubled its original target. The company plans to use the capital to expand its portfolio in Poland, including a €25 mln investment in a 16,500 m2 shopping centre in Warsaw.

Spiro Noussis, CEO, said the transaction was ‘the first step towards achieving our strategic objective of building a significant retail shopping centre portfolio and operational presence in the country.’ He added: ‘Rockcastle has earmarked €750 mln of equity for the purpose of both acquisitions and developments in Poland.’

Established in Mauritius in 2012, Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company is a hybrid real estate vehicle listed on the Mauritian Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. Its portfolio of stakes in REITs in the US, Australia, the EU, the UK, Singapore, Canada and Hong Kong is valued at around $1.8bn (€1.6 bn).

Opole is a university city in south-west Poland between Wroclaw and Katowice with a population of around 120,000.