GLOBAL - The National Pension Service (NPS) of Korea, the fifth-largest pension fund in the world, has acquired a 51% stake in the O'Parinor Shopping Centre in Paris for €223m.

The acquisition was completed by Rockspring Property Investment Managers, its third direct deal for NPS and the first outside London after securing a European investment mandate in 2009.

The stake was acquired from property company Hammerson, which has agreed to an option for NPS to buy a further 24% interest in the shopping centre in more than a year's time at a price based on the same valuation.

Located in Ile de France, 15km from the centre of Paris in one of the most affluent and densely populated areas of the country, O'Parinor is a two-storey shopping centre totalling some 90,000 square metres.

O'Parinor was originally acquired in 2002 by Hammerson, which completed a 24,000 square metre extension and development in 2008.

It is let to more than 200 leading international brands such as Carrefour, H&M, Zara, Toys "R" Us, Fnac and Sephora.

Hammerson, a leading European property company, will continue to hold the remaining interest in the property and retain an asset management role for the shopping centre.

The acquisition is part of a mandate undertaken by Rockspring on behalf of the NPS to invest in prime commercial property assets across Europe on a deal-by-deal basis.

Hee Seok Kim of NPS said: "This transaction is in line with our strategy of investing in high-quality global real estate.

"Working alongside Rockspring, we are very pleased to be creating a new joint venture partnership with Hammerson, one of Europe's foremost managers of retail property."

Within the last 12 months, Rockspring has acquired 40 Grosvenor Place and 88 Wood Street in London on behalf of NPS within this segregated mandate structure.

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