Wereldhave has announced it is in talks with Unibail-Rodamco regarding a possible purchase of a number of Dutch shopping centres. The talks are reportedly centred on the Franco-Dutch company's smaller shopping centres in the Netherlands with a minimal surface area of 25,000 m[sup]2[/sup]. Analysts are ruling out the possibility that Europe's largest listed retail specialist is divesting any of its larger Dutch malls.

Wereldhave has announced it is in talks with Unibail-Rodamco regarding a possible purchase of a number of Dutch shopping centres. The talks are reportedly centred on the Franco-Dutch company's smaller shopping centres in the Netherlands with a minimal surface area of 25,000 m2. Analysts are ruling out the possibility that Europe's largest listed retail specialist is divesting any of its larger Dutch malls.

A report due to be published in Europroperty on Monday puts the purchase price at EUR 250 mln. On the basis of its current credit facilities, Wereldhave could fork out EUR 350-500 mln for the acquisition, analysts at Amsterdam-based Petercam say. Wereldhave has said it would like to own at least EUR 400 mln of assets per country. In the Netherlands it already has a portfolio worth EUR 425 mln, so it is unlikely that the deal will be much larger than the estimated EUR 250 mln.

Wereldhave had announced earlier that it planned to expand in the UK and France, but has had trouble finding the right assets. At the announcement of the merger between Unibail and Rodamco in 2007, the new combine said it would spin off a large portion of its Dutch portfolio.