Unibail-Rodamco unveil plans for asset sell-off

Franco-Dutch property giant Unibail-Rodamco has unveiled plans to sell off non-core parts of its Dutch and Belgian property portfolio. The company said the sell-off will include high-street shops, smaller shopping centres and offices, in line with plans to focus on ‘large-scale premium assets’.

Thursday's announcement follows speculation that Unibail-Rodamco intended to dispose of Dutch and Belgian assets valued at around EUR 800 mln, representing around a third of its total EUR 2.9 bn Dutch and Belgian portfolio. Cushman & Wakefield is reportedly advising on the sell-off.

Unibail-Rodamco said it was in talks with potential buyers, but declined to give any names. Dutch property magazine Vastgoedmarkt has reported that the real estate arm of Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank, Rabo Bouwfond Investment Management/IEF, has made a bid of EUR 800 mln for the assets. Reportedly a number of market players have tried to convince the Franco-Dutch company that a higher bid is possible if more details of the assets are disclosed, and this information has now been handed over to at least one other interested party.

Cushman & Wakefield and Unibail- Rodamco have declined to comment. But Unibail-Rodamco's French CEO Guillaume Poitrinal has previously said he envisions the EUR 21 bn property portfolio, the current size of the firm's portfolio, comprising only leading shopping centres larger than 50.000 m². Poitrinal is reportedly aiming to sign off on the sale of assets before the end of the current financial year, in other words before the end of January.

Market insiders are speculating that if Rabobank's property arm is interested in the Unibail-Rodamco assets, it may withdraw the hostile bid made last year for Dutch property fund manager VastNed Retail.