German asset manager Union Investment is believed to have paid €118 mln to acquire its first shopping centre in the Netherlands on behalf of its institutional open-ended real estate fund, UII Shopping Nr. 1.
German asset manager Union Investment is believed to have paid €118 mln to acquire its first shopping centre in the Netherlands on behalf of its institutional open-ended real estate fund, UII Shopping Nr. 1.
Completed in 2004, De Klanderij in Enschede comprises 20,000 m2 of retail space and 54 shops and is is fully let. In 2014, the mall became the first shopping centre to be awarded a BREEAM NL rating of Very Good.
Union Investment is acquiring the asset, which is located on Van Heekplein, Enschede’s main square, from ASR Dutch Prime Retail Fund. Financial details were not disclosed, but market sources put the price at €118 mln.
The deal was brokered by investment consultants The McDevitt Company. CBRE served as adviser to the ASR Dutch Prime Retail Fund in the transaction. Houthoff Buruma provided legal services. Loyens&Loeff advised Union Investment on the deal.
Following the purchase of De Klanderij, the portfolio of the UII Shopping Nr. 1 fund now comprises seven properties in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland worth a total of around €470 mln.
'This acquisition means that the product, with its focus on European retail property, is almost fully invested,' said Christoph Schumacher, a member of the management team at Hamburg-based Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH. 'We can well envisage a conservative follow-up product for UII Shopping Nr. 1 which focuses on steady appreciation and stable income.'
Edwin van de Woestijne, Fund director of ASR Dutch Prime Retail Fund: 'The decision to sell this shopping centre ties in with the Fund’s strategic vision and its long-term objective not to have its principal asset located in Enschede. The proceeds from the sale will be used to make new investments.'
