European listed property giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has announced the sale of its 45% stake in Austria’s largest shopping centre, Shopping City Süd in Vienna, as well as the phased disposal of Aupark in Bratislava, Slovakia for €930 mln.
In Austria, URW agreed the sale to Crédit Agricole Assurances for a price valuing the entire asset at €1.065 bn, or a 3% discount to the December 2020 value. The two parties have also established a joint venture that will see URW continue asset and property management as part of a long-term management contract.
In light of the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, URW has granted the joint venture a two-year rental guarantee capped at 2% of the implied offer price (at 100%). The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of the year.
Shopping City Süd is a 200,000 m2 flagship destination in Vienna, which attracted close to 25 million visits in 2019.
URW bought the asset back in 2009 for €607 mln from the private family trust Hans Dujsik Privatstiftung.
Crédit Agricole Assurances was also the buyer together with La Française of a €2 bn portfolio of five French shopping centres sold by URW in March last year.
In Slovakia, URW agreed the phased disposal of Aupark Bratislava, a 59,600 m2 flagship destination which attracted 11.8 million visits in 2019. Wood & Company, as transaction leader, together with its joint venture partner Tatra Asset Management, will initially acquire a 60% interest on the basis of an agreed total acquisition cost of €450 mln (at 100%), in line with the appraisal value.
The remaining 40% will be acquired through pre-agreed stakes in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The joint venture formed by URW and the purchasers has also refinanced existing debt of Aupark by obtaining non-recourse bank financing of €229.5 mln.
In light of the impact of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, URW has provided a three-year rent guarantee equal to a maximum 2% of the Gross Market Value as well as a participative loan including an earn-out mechanism.
Completion of the transaction is expected during the first half of the year. URW will continue to manage the property, together with Wood & Company, until the asset has been fully acquired by the purchasers.
URW bought Aupark Bratislava in two separate transactions in 2005 and 2011 for a total of €226 mln.
Upon closing of the sale of the 60% stake in Aupark and 45% stake in Shopping City Süd, URW will have completed €1.35 bn of its planned €4 bn European asset disposal programme.
Earlier this week, URW also closed a five-year sustainability linked revolving credit facility for a total amount of €3.0 bn. The credit facility has two one-year extension options and replaces €1.6 bn of commitments that were scheduled to mature in 2021 and €800 mln of commitments due to mature in 2022, 2023 and 2024. URW’s undrawn credit facilities amount to around €9.7 bn, with an average maturity of 2.8 years.
The bank syndicate encompasses 19 banks. BNP Paribas acted as documentation agent, Natixis, SMBC Group, and Société Générale as sustainability coordinators, Deutsche Bank and HSBC as syndication agents and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank as facility agent.
