Union Investment adds to Italian shopping centre portfolio

Union Investment Real Estate has added another Italian property to its EUR 4.5 bn international retail portfolio. The Hamburg-based property fund manager has acquired the 9,830 m² retail gallery of the Casal Bertone shopping centre in Rome for around EUR 48 mln from Italian project developer Immobiliare Europea.

The 21,000-m² shopping centre also houses an Auchan hypermarket, which is not included in the transaction. The property, which was fully renovated in 1998, was bought for the Immo-Invest: Europa institutional fund. CBRE advised the seller.

Casal Bertone is located near the main railway station in the heart of a densely populated residential area of downtown Rome. The entire rental space is let until the end of 2018 to master tenant Gallerie Commerciali Italia, which currently operates 42 shopping malls in Italy. Casal Bertone comprises 56 shops, with the focus on national and international chains such as Cisalfa, Foot Locker, Pimkie, Benetton, Bijou Brigitte and Flunch. The centre has 1,124 underground car park spaces.

Union Investment entered the Italian retail market at the end of 2007 with the acquisition of Centro Commerciale Carrefour di Pavia for its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa.