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Klépierre, Invesco And TH Offer €350m For Plenilunio

19 January 2015 – Expansión

The home straight/ Orion receives three binding offers for the Plenilunio Retail Park. Unibail Rodamco withdraws from the process.

The sales process for one of the largest shopping centres in Madrid is in its final stages with three finalists. The French company Klépierre and the funds Tiaa Henderson (TH) and Invesco have all submitted binding offers for the property.

Invesco is the latest candidate to join the bid for the centre; the French-Dutch group Unibail Rodamco has withdrawn from the process. The shopping centre operator had expressed interest in acquiring Plenilunio to create a Golden Triangle in Madrid, as the owner of three landmark properties: La Vaguada, ParqueSur and through this transaction, Plenilunio. However, the high price offered by its competitors has put pay to Unibail Rodamco’s aspirations, explain industry sources. The British real estate company Grosvenor has also expressed interest in the centre, according to real estate sources.

Thus, TH – which bid alongside a sovereign fund -, Invesco and Klépierre would all be willing to pay €350 million for this property, which occupies a surface area of 220,000 square metres. Plenilunio has 70,000 square metres of retail space (GLA), distributed over three floors, plus 2,500 parking spaces, according to the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres. The property, which has an occupancy rate of almost 98%, generates annual rental income of €20 million.

Upon receipt of the binding offers, the current owner, the US fund Orion, must choose whether to negotiate with a single finalist or to conduct a final competition with two of the finalists. It is expected to take this decision quickly as it aims to close the sale during the first quarter of 2015, as revealed by Expansión on 17 December.

Plenilunio, which opened in May 2006, was developed by the Spanish real estate firm Riofisa (acquired soon after by Colonial). Before its opening, Banco Santander bought the property for €275 million, and then sold it onto Orion for €235 million in 2009.

The US fund controls the property through its company Orion Columba which adopted a Socimi structure in September 2013. The sale of Plenilunio is the second large divestment that Orion has undertaken in Spain in recent months – it closed the sale of the Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza at the end of 2014. The property, the largest in Spain, was acquired by the British real estate company, Intu Properties for €451 million. In October 2013, Orion paid €144.5 million for the 50% of the centre that it did not already own.

Plenilunio is one of 80 shopping centres expected to change hands over the next few months in Spain, according to Deloitte Real Estate. In 2014, more than €2,100 million was invested in shopping centres across the country, driven by the sale of Marineda in La Coruña for €260 million and Islazul in Madrid for €232 million.

Original story: Expansión (Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake