Unibail-Rodamco is seeking to sell its stakes in two Dutch shopping centres, located in the cities of Zoetermeer and Almere respectively, sources have confirmed to PropertyEU.
Cushman & Wakefield has been mandated to sell the interests. If Unibail-Rodamco succeeds in finding a buyer, it will hold just two retail assets in the Netherlands: Stadshart Amstelveen near Amsterdam and the new Mall of the Netherlands in Leidsenhage.
The reason for the planned sale, according to the sources, is that Unibail-Rodamco wants to concentrate on realising the Mall of the Netherlands. The pan-European shopping centre specialist is investing nearly €500 mln in redeveloping and expanding the centre in a bid to make it a dominant European mall. The 116,000 m2 Mall of the Netherlands is due to open its doors in 2009.
The fact that Unibail-Rodamco has to share ownership of the centres in Zoetermeer (pictured) and Almere with other owners is said to be another reason for selling out, the sources said.
Blackstone takes assets off the market
By contrast, US private equity company Blackstone has taken a package of Dutch shopping centres held by its retail platform Multi off the market. In an exclusive interview with PropertyEU, Multi’s CEO Josip Kardun said that Blackstone was waiting for better times to sell the centres.
Earlier this year, PropertyEU’s weekly sister publication EuroProperty reported that Blackstone was seeking to sell all Multi’s malls in the Netherlands with the exception of Forum Rotterdam. The US investor aimed to generate around €300 mln from the sale and was seeking to dispose of them as a package.
Kardun: ‘The offers were interesting but too low for Blackstone. The portfolio isn’t bad; it is still making a profit for us. We’re just waiting for a better moment to sell them. Being part of Blackstone we have that luxury.’
The full interview with Josip Kardun will appear in the November edition of PropertyEU Magazine.
