Unibail-Rodamco eyes growth in Russian market

French-Dutch property giant Unibail-Rodamco is seeking to build up mass in the retail property sector in Moscow by putting together a portfolio of 3-4 shopping centres in the city, CEO Guillaume Poitrinal told journalists in Paris on Wednesday. Noting that the property fundamentals are sound in the Russian capital, Guillaume said the company would open its first mall in Russia by the end of this year.

Unibail-Rodamco has retained developer Capital Partners as its Russian venture partner for the next few years.

Rodamco Europe - the Dutch retail specialist which merged last year with France's Unibail - entered Russia at the end of 2006 with the acquisition of 50% of the Metropolis shopping centre development in Moscow from Capital Partners. The mall, Capital Partners's first shopping centre project, comprises 80,000 m² of gross lettable area (GLA) and is valued at EUR 400mln. Unibail-Rodamco is to manage the property.

In a statement, Poitrinal said on Wednesday that Unibail-Rodamco will seek to put the group's 97 shopping centres 'in motion'. To this end, the company has hired a special team to look at ways to increase the performance and the value of each of the assets. In the future, Unibail-Rodamco will focus on large shopping centres in Continental Europe with a minimum size of 50,000 m² and a catchment area of at least 400,000 people, Poitrinal said.

The company is targeting an internal rate of return on the property of 9% to 14%, inclusive inflation. 'Every time we cant perform that we will sell the asset', Poitrinal said.

Click on the link below to read: Unibail-Rodamco opens refurbished Les Quatre Temps mall