Rodamco Europe buys in Austria, sees Unibail public offer within 2 weeks

Dutch property investor Rodamco Europe has acquired a 50% stake in the 22,700 m² shopping centre Sudpark in Klagenfurt Austria for around EUR 34.5 mln. Anchors tenants include department store chains Hennes & Mauritz and C&A, plus supermarket operator Merkur. Rodamco will take over the management of the centre, the company said.

Property advisor Jones Lang LaSalle acted for the vendor, Austrian entrepreneur Anton Pletzer, on the disposal of a 50% share in the regional shopping centre

Separately, Rodamco Europe and French property firm Unibail said the preparations for their merger and share exchange are ‘very advanced’. Unibail expects to launch the public exchange offer for all Rodamco’s outstanding shares within the next two weeks.

Meanwhile Dutch financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported that Rodamco Europe is close to a settlement in its dispute with ING Real Estate over Rodamco’s 50% stake in shopping centre Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw, Poland. The paper cites Rodamco ceo Maarten Hulshoff as saying the compensation amounts to roughly EUR 500,000 a month for loss of revenue. ING confirmed it was in ‘constructive talks’ with Rodamco Europe on the dispute but declined to discuss any financial details.

Rodamco Europe bought the rights to the 50% stake in the Polish shopping centre five years ago for EUR 157 mln, and threatened legal action in February of this year when ING had still failed to hand over the shares. ING has blamed the Warsaw city council, saying it has so far refused to hand over its 23% stake in the shopping centre as it is unhappy with the initially agreed price. The shopping centre was opened in February.

Both ING RE and Rodamco said the settlement is separate from ING’s dispute with the Warsaw city council over the 225,000 m² shopping centre