Rockspring Property Investment Managers has sold a portfolio of three retail assets in Switzerland to Schroder Immoplus, a fund managed by Schroder Investment Management, for an undisclosed sum.
The 51,500 m2 portfolio, held by its PanEuropean Property Limited Partnership, comprises three assets in Villeneuve (16,500 m2), Lausanne (20,000 m2) and Luzern (15,000 m2). All three properties are let to a subsidiary of Hornbach Baumarkt, one of Europe's largest DIY operators, on recently re-geared leases lasting on average 15 years (with no break options) and an annual income of CHF 6 mln (€5.7 mln).
'As an open-ended fund, we have owned these properties for almost 15 years and, having overseen a patient programme of extension and refurbishment works which culminated in the recent lease re-gear with the tenant, we felt that this was the right time to sell the properties and to crystalise the material uplift in value created,' said Stuart Reid, partner at Rockspring.
'Following the successful sale of this portfolio, we are now very much in capital raising mode for PanEuropean and, over the short to medium term, we will be looking to deploy any equity raised, while also reinvesting the proceeds from this transaction to further diversify the portfolio and to increase our office and logistics holdings in particular,' added Flavio Casero, partner at Rockspring and fund manager of PanEuropean.
Following the sale, the fund portfolio, which has a current total value of €500 mln, is approximately 60% retail, and 40% offices and logistics.
Established in 1973, Rockspring's PanEuropean is one of the longest standing European open-ended funds focusing on buying and managing properties in major cities throughout Western Europe and Scandinavia.
CBRE Zurich acted for the vendor.
