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Ceetrus to Invest €550MM Over Five Years in Portugal

5 June 2018

Ceetrus Portugal, formerly known as Immochan Portugal, has planned investments of €550-million over a five-year period, ” one-tenth of what invests the group internationally,” the company’s CEO, Mario Costa, said today. The new company is ceasing to be just the real estate arm of the large commercial distributor, to become an active real estate developer in every segment, not just commercial centres, but also housing, offices, leisure centres and urban infrastructure.

The €550MM-investment will include the “acquisition of assets for transforming, land, construction costs and all associated project development and service costs,” Ms Costa stated on the day the new international brand of the Auchan group’s real estate company was revealed.

After presenting the new brand, Ms Costa recalled that the bet on “diverse, multipurpose projects,” had been carried out since the strategic plan’s inception in 2016.

The company’s strategy will reveal its strategy for diversifying its operation in Portugal by the end of the year. “We are working hard on some projects which will become public knowledge later this year,” the executive said, adding that they are “new real estate projects in the areas in which we are now operating: mixed-use projects for offices, restaurants and retail.”

“We will take our multi-purpose functionality to these new spaces,” Ms Costa stated, noting that the Alegro Setúbal venue has an area for sports, a health clinic and play area for children.

The acquisition of Forum Montijo, Forum Sintra and Sintra Retail Park: one of the “largest financial transactions” in the sector

Ceetrus has 393 shopping centres worldwide and, following its new strategy, also has a housing project in Romania, is participating in the construction of a railway station in Vigo (Spain), and has a residential district and offices in Lille.

In March, while still known as Immochan, the company announced a two- to three-million euro investment in the three shopping centres it acquired in Portugal for 411 million euros, and a study of the construction of two new assets.

The acquisition of Forum Montijo, Sintra Forum and Sintra Retail Park was one of the “largest financial transactions” in the sector in Portugal in recent times, Ms Costa stated, adding that the acquisitions were due to the need to “accelerate the growth” of the group in Portugal, taking into account its strategic plans for 2030.

At that time, she referred to plans to invest two to three million euros for improvements on the three shopping centres.

Also, Mário Costa said, the company has “the construction of two new assets” located in the Greater Lisbon area in its pipeline. Construction may begin within five years, although the company gave no further details.

The executive also stated that the acquisition of the three shopping centres in Portugal strengthened the group’s position in the Portuguese market, noting that the number of visitors to the shopping malls is growing by 2% per year.

Immochan has been in business for more than 40 years and is present in 12 countries. The group owns almost 400 shopping centres, representing four million square meters of gross leasable area (GLA).

Original Story: Lusa / Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner