Savills markets portfolio of four German malls

International real estate advisor Savills, on behalf of Prime Commercial Properties (PCP), is marketing a freehold portfolio of four shopping centres in Germany for a guide price of circa EUR 400 mln. The four centres, Allee-Center Leipzig, Billstedt-Center Hamburg, City-Center Chorweiler, Cologne; Haven Höövt Vegesack, Bremen, comprise 139,355 m² of retail, storage, office and partially residential units.

The assets, managed by ECE and CBRE, are let to strong international and national retailers including H&M, C&A, TK Maxx, Real, Marktkauf, Kaiser food market, Mediamarkt/Saturn and Promarkt and generate a gross annual rental income of EUR 29 mln.

Savills said the assets are all freehold with good rental growth prospects and have numerous asset management and development opportunities to further drive the revenue stream.

Nick Hart, national director and head of Retail Investment of Savills London, says: 'Each of these assets offer the dominant shopping within their catchment and still have substantial potential for further improvement by asset management.'

'Retail properties in 2009 have proved to be the most attractive asset class for property investors in Germany,´adds Karsten Nemecek, Managing Director Corporate Finance - Valuation of Savills Germany. 'More than a third of total investment into commercial properties has been allocated to retail properties. Especially multi-tenant retail properties in prime locations produce a very stable return on investment,'

PCP is a British shopping centre investor and operator with centres in Germany, UK, Japan and the US. The firm entered the German market in 2005 and is now realigning its strategy, focussing back on its home market of the UK. PCP currently controls assets valued at EUR 550 mln.