A 50-50 partnership of US private equity firm TPG Capital and Swiss asset manager Partners Group has snapped up three shopping centres that are part of TH Real Estate's larger 233,500 m2 Crown portfolio.
The disposal, which amounts to a total of €250 mln, was carried out by TH Real Estate on behalf of the Henderson European Retail Property Fund which is nearing maturity. Herald, structured as a closed-ended Luxembourg Fonds Commun de Placement (FCP), matured in 2015 with a two-year wind-down period. In early July the vehicle sold the Hydrion retail park in Arlon, Belgium, also part of the Crown portfolio, to Redevco for €60 mln.
The three malls were put on the market last year as part of the larger 10-asset property strong Crown portfolio, Europe’s largest retail package for sale at the time, with a value of some €600 mln.
TPG and Partners Group emerged ahead of a half dozen bidders including US private equity firms Starwood Capital and Blackstone as well as London-based Orion Capital Managers. The assets are located in Bologna and Cosenza in Italy, and Elche in Spain and have a total floorspace of 70,000 m2
Centro Navile in Bologna is a fully-let retail park that includes Mondo Convenienza, UniEuro, Maisons du Monde and Kiabi as principal tenants. Metropolis is a fully-let, 25,000 m2 shopping centre located in Calabria in the south of Italy that is anchored by IperSpar, Media Markt and Pittarosso. It was refurbished in 2014. L’Aljub in Elche is located in the Valencia region and includes Primark and the Inditex group as key tenants.
'The sale of these three assets is the next part of the divestment programme in light of the fund entering into its wind-down phase,' said Carl White, fund manager at TH Real Estate.
CBRE, Norton Rose and Uría Menéndez advised TH Real Estate, while Freshfields advised the buyers.
In total, the Crown portfolio comprised 10 assets across Spain (3), Italy (3), France (2), Belgium (1) and Germany (1). These are the Miramar retail park and shopping centre in Fuengirola, Spain; L'Aljub shopping centre in Alicante, Spain; the Serravalle retail outlet in Alessandria, Italy; the Metropolis shopping centre in Cosenza, Italy; Centro Navile in Bologna, Italy; Shopping Cité Baden Baden in Northern Germany; Parc Commercial de l'Hydrion in Arlon, Belgium; Plein Air in Le Blanc Mesnil, France; and Centre Sud in Le Mans, France.
