Portuguese shopping mall specialist Sonae Sierra has acquired two retail centres in the Portuguese cities of Albufeira and Portimao for EUR 32 mln. The investment was made through a 50/50 joint venture with GREP, a fund managed by the property group Grosvenor.

Portuguese shopping mall specialist Sonae Sierra has acquired two retail centres in the Portuguese cities of Albufeira and Portimao for EUR 32 mln. The investment was made through a 50/50 joint venture with GREP, a fund managed by the property group Grosvenor.

The Modelo de Albufeira and Continente de Portimao shopping centres have been sold by the Portuguese retail group Modelo Continente SGPS for EUR 12.3 mln and EUR 19.7 mln respectively. Sonae Sierra said that the partnership established with GREP Fund intends to invest a further EUR 14 mln in the refurbishing of the two units.

The Albufeira mall, located in the centre of this city south of the country, has a gross lettable area of 10.471 m2. Opened in August 1989, the retail space comprises three levels providing 43 shops, including a Modelo Hypermarket and 562 parking spaces.

The Continente de Portimão mall was opened in August 1990 and was substantially refurbished in the beginning of 1998, with the addition of a restaurant area and a cinema complex. This retail centre has 13.492 m2 distributed on four levels with a total of 60 shops, including a Continente Hypermarket, six Castelo Lopes cinemas, 11 restaurants and about 800 parking spaces.

Sonae Sierra owns or co-owns 41 mall in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Brazil. It is currently developing 14 more projects in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Brazil, of which four scheduled to open in Portugal between 2006 and 2007.