German property developer Trei Real Estate has sold off its entire portfolio of 49 retail assets in Portugal to US private real estate investment firm LCN Capital Partners.
Out of the total, 44 properties are let to Portugal’s second biggest supermarket chain Pingo Doce, while the other five are occupied by supermarket chains Continente and Minipreço.
The total leasable area amounts to 68,000 m2 and the assets are located in cities such as Porto, Lisbon, Faro, and along the Algarve coast.
Although financial details were not disclosed, Trei Real Estate requested €150 mln for the portfolio, making it the largest supermarket property transaction in Portugal.
Pepijn Morshuis, CEO of Trei Real Estate, commented: ‘For a few years now, we have been downscaling the number of countries we want to focus on while simultaneously intensifying our development efforts and our diversification in those countries where we remain active. In the future, we plan to concentrate entirely on the development of residential projects in these three core markets and on the expansion of our retail parks under the Vendo Park brand in Poland. Our retail real estate portfolio in Portugal generated a stable cash flow in recent years. There was plenty of interest in these 49 valuable and well-frequented sites, and we are glad to have found a professional and trustful buyer in LCN Capital Partners.’
Edward LaPuma, co-founder and managing partner of LCN Capital Partners, commented: ‘We have been growing our sale-leaseback and build-to-suit portfolio across Europe over the last decade. We believe this portfolio is a great addition to our latest European Fund and highlights our ability to partner with our tenant-clients, like Pingo Doce, to help them grow and meet their goals. After closing on this investment, LCN will be one of Europe’s largest private grocery store owners. I want to thank the deal teams of Trei and LCN and the respective advisors who were able to close this transaction. Moreover, we want to welcome Pingo Doce as one of our important tenant-clients and look forward to working with them.’
Long-term lease renewals have been negotiated as part of LCN’s acquisition.
The disposal marks another step in Trei’s ongoing strategic portfolio optimisation, focusing on its core markets of Germany, the US and Poland.
Trei Real Estate was advised by CBRE and Morais Leitão, while Cushman & Wakefield, PLMJ, KPMG and Engexpor advised LCN.
