Unibail-Rodamco, Europe's largest listed property company, has sold a mixed-use development in the centre of the southern Dutch city of Breda to a 50-50 joint venture formed by developers MAB and Dura Vermeer. The takeover sum was not disclosed.
Unibail-Rodamco, Europe's largest listed property company, has sold a mixed-use development in the centre of the southern Dutch city of Breda to a 50-50 joint venture formed by developers MAB and Dura Vermeer. The takeover sum was not disclosed.
The EUR 170 mln project, called Achter de Lange Stallen, will be sold to Dutch asset manager Syntrus Achmea on completion. It comprises around 24,000 m2 of retail space, 71 apartments, an underground parking garage, an office building formerly occupied by telecoms company KPN and a listed building. Social housing corporation Wonen Breburg, which currently owns the listed building and former KPN office, will exchange these in return for an unspecified number of new apartments.
The Breda development was put on ice in 2008 after Unibail-Rodamco rejigged its strategy in favour of developing and owning dominant shopping centres in Europe as well as large office complexes and convention centres in and around Paris. The company has said it plans to sell EUR 2.5 bn to EUR 3 bn of non-core retail and office assets by 2013.
MAB expressed its interest in taking over the Breda project, with the deal subsequently taking several months of hard bargaining to close, MAB Development director Jos Melchers told a press conference earlier this week.
MAB Development and Syntrus Achmea plan to work together more frequently in the future. Syntrus Achmea CEO Henk Jagersma said his company plans to invest EUR 500-600 mln a year on behalf of pension funds in 'high quality' projects .
