Tag: Carrefour

Kennedy Wilson Sells 10 Carrefour Supermarkets to Barings for €73.4M

14 January 2020 – El Confidencial

The US fund Kennedy Wilson has sold 10 supermarkets that are currently leased to the French retailer Carrefour to the British fund Barings for €73.4 million.

The stores are located in Madrid (2), Barcelona (4), Bilbao (1), Salamanca (1), Cádiz (1) and Almería (1), and together span a surface area of 38,800 m2 with 1,100 parking spaces. All of them are situated in central locations with good public transport links.

Kennedy Wilson will reportedly generate almost €30 million from the sale, which it plans to reinvest in new opportunities in Europe as well as in other projects already underway.

Original story: El Confidencial (by EC)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Carrefour’s Carmila Has Plans to Acquire New Retail Centres in Spain in 2020

18 November 2019 – Carmila, Carrefour’s real estate management subsidiary, is planning to acquire additional retail centres in Spain during the coming year. Carmila currently controls 78 shopping centres in 32 provinces, with a total of 469,900 square meters of leasable area.

The real estate firm, which Carrefour launched in 2015 together with institutional investors, has a total of 215 shopping centres in Spain, France and Italy. Its holdings in Spain have a 96% occupancy rate.

Original Story: Murcia Diario

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Merlin to Invest €60MM in Logistics Platform for Carrefour

10 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

Merlin Properties, a socimi listed on the Ibex 35, is finalising an agreement with the French retail giant Carrefour to develop a 100,000-square-meter logistics platform in Azuqueca de Henares, Guadalajara. The socimi will invest approximately 60 million euros in the turnkey project, which will be finished by the end of 2020.

Many of the details of the operation are not yet known, as the two firms are still finalising their agreement. However, the eventual rental contract is likely to be a long-term one, at least ten years. This is because the logistics platform’s location is a part of Carrefour’s strategic plans. The site will be Carrefour’s largest in Spain. A long-term contract would also be of interest to Merlin, locking in a guaranteed income flow for a longer period. This is because the current average contract period is just three years.

Merlin will invest 50 to 60 million euros to build the warehouses. The project already has all the necessary permits, so construction is likely to wrap up before the end of 2020. Carrefour would then concentrate its Madrid-based logistics operations at that one site.

The good news for Merlin Properties comes at a time when the allocation of logistics assets fell by over 50% in Madrid compared to last year due to a lack of major operations.

Original Story: Merca2 – Carlos Lospitao

 

Debt Recovery Firm KRUK Prepares to Make its Real Estate Debut

18 March 2019 – Bolsa Mania

The debt recovery firm KRUK is getting ready to enter the real estate market. The company, which has already acquired debt portfolios in other segments (e.g. consumer loans) from entities such as Bankia and Unicaja, now wants to start buying real estate-related debt portfolios from the banks, servicers and Sareb.

Until now, the group has specialised in the unsecured segment in Spain. Last year, it acquired a portfolio of doubtful consumer loans from Bankia and a year earlier, it did the same with another similar portfolio from Unicaja. A few months ago, it purchased another from Carrefour’s financial arm.

Further afield, the company currently has a presence in Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the last two markets representing its priorities for the time being.

Original story: Bolsa Mania (by Elena Lozano)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Funds, Socimis, El Corte Inglés & Seur Compete in the Urban Logistics Segment

9 March 2019 – Expansión

Investors and logistics operators alike are setting their sights on urban hubs to benefit from the boom in e-commerce. According to data from CBRE, investment in the logistics sector is thriving – it amounted to €2 billion in 2017, €1.5 billion in 2018 and is forecast to reach €1.2 billion in 2019. Active players in the sector include the Singapore sovereign fund through its Socimi P3, Blackstone, Prologis, Logicor, CBRE GI and Montepino, and Merlin, amongst others.

Urban hubs are gaining significant weight in the sector thanks to their ability to reduce transport costs, avoid the new traffic restrictions and resolve the problem of product returns.

According to the CNMC, Correos and Correos Express currently deliver 44% of all packages in Spain, followed by MRW and Seur (14% each) and DHL (4.5%).

In terms of retailers operating in this space, Amazon set the ball rolling by opening a logistics centre in the heart of the Eixample district of Barcelona and in the Méndez Álvaro area of Madrid. Other large retailers are following suit by opening distribution centres inside major cities, such as Decathlon, MediaMarkt, Ikea, Aki, Carrefour and Worten.

The investment firm Azora has also announced its intention to invest €250 million in logistics hubs in urban centres, which it will lease to delivery specialists such as Seur, DHL and MRW. Seur already has eleven urban logistics centres and plans to open another nine this year. Meanwhile, DHL already has ten such hubs and plans to open two more this year.

In the same vein, the department store giant El Corte Inglés has also launched an ambitious omnichannel logistics strategy, which will convert its 94 shopping centres into storage points for the management of online purchases.

Original story: Expansión (by I. de las Heras & R. Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

El Corte Inglés Plans to Open 1,000 Gas Station Stores in Conjunction with Repsol

15 October 2018 – Real Estate Press

There are almost 11,500 gas stations in Spain, of which more than 8,500 have shops. El Corte Inglés was one of the first groups to operate in conjunction with oil companies and that group is now planning to open 1,000 new gas station stores together with Repsol.

Gas station stores typically have a wide range of opening hours, span an extensive network and are easy to stop at to make quick purchases. It was only a matter of time before distribution groups decided to team up with oil companies to manage their service station stores. Now the time has come for those formats to flourish.

The formula allows supermarket chains to grow rapidly without having to recruit staff or undertake significant investments. Meanwhile, the petrol companies benefit from offering more attractive service stations, with a more extensive range of products and a lower cost base by entrusting the management of their stores to specialists with a volume of purchases that generates significant savings.

Sales at gas station stores amounted to €580 million in 2017, although the potential of this format is much greater.

Forecast growth

El Corte Inglés was one of the first groups to operate agreements with petrol companies. Initially, it constituted the company Gespevesa together with Repsol in 1998, which they control (50%) and which owns 39 service stations. Last year, that entity recorded revenues of €39.2 million, down by 26% and earned profits of €3.8 million, up by 28%. Next, it joined forces with Cepsa to develop a refuelling discount strategy. And, now, it has committed to a major agreement with Repsol to create “the largest network of convenience stores in Spain” under the brand Supercor Stop & Go.

Carrefour has also changed its petrol partner over the years: it started working on this type of alliance with BP, but in 2013, it opted to join Cepsa to grow a new format, Carrefour Express Cepsa, which currently comprises 333 stores. One fact serves to explain the importance of this agreement for the French group, namely, that it is the format with the most stores in around twenty Spanish provinces, including Asturias, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Castellón, Lleida, Toledo, Valladolid and Zaragoza, amongst others.

Día is the other group that has heavily backed the format, with the launch of a pilot project together with BP in four of its gas stations in Madrid under the Shop brand. Previously, in 2015, Dia signed an agreement in collaboration with Disa (Shell) to supply the counters in five of its stores. BP has also worked with other partners. Between 2013 and 2016, Alcampo supplied products, including its own brand range, to stores in its gas stations. Moreover, BP has operated some regional alliances for years with other smaller supermarket chains to generate benefits through their loyalty cards (…).

Finally, Galp, the fifth largest petrol company in Spain, has not been averse to these agreements either; it has worked with GM Food, the former Miquel Group. Their partnership began in 2013, with 12 pilot stores operating under the Sar brand; it continued the alliance once that project had finished, with the Catalan group as the supplier of its stores; and now, the two firms have started another trial in eight locations under the format Suma Exprés.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

ECE and J&T Bid in RE Operation of the Year

12 June 2018 – Expansión

One of the real estate mega-operations of the year is entering the home stretch. The German manager specialising in retail ECE and the Slovakian real estate leader J&T Real Estate are positioning themselves as favourites to acquire the Valle Real (Santander), Max Center (Bilbao) and Gran Casa (Zaragoza) shopping centres, currently owned by Iberian Assets, a joint venture in which the fund managers CBRE Global Investors (CBRE GI) and the multi-national Sonae Sierra both hold 50% stakes.

In the case of the Slovakian firm, the operation would be carried out through an alliance with Sonae Sierra and would represent J&T Real Estate’s debut in Spain.

Market sources explain that, in both cases, the bids for these assets exceed €450 million and reveal that the transaction could be closed within the next few weeks.

The portfolio, baptised as Project Summit, includes almost 117,000 m2 of gross leasable space in total (owned by Iberian Assets) and together, the three centres received 24 million visitors last year. CBRE GI and Sonae Sierra engaged the real estate consultancy firms CBRE and JLL at the beginning of the year to sell the three shopping centres.

The assets

Valle Real, opened in November 1994, has a gross leasable area of 47,725 m2, spread over two floors and is fully occupied (100%).

The shopping centre, located in Santander, closed last year with 5.9 million visitors. Valle Real includes a Carrefour hypermarket, which occupies almost 16,000 m2. Its other main tenants include Primark, Inditex, H&M and Forum Sport.

Meanwhile, Max Center is located in Bilbao and it opened its doors for the first time in 1997. The asset was remodelled in 2000 and its tenants include Inditex, H&M, Cortefiel, La Tagliatella, Foster’s Hollywood and Cinesa.

The shopping centre also has an adjoining leisure space, Max Ocio, which opened in 2002.

In total, the centre has a surface area of almost 40,000 m2 and it also received 5.9 million visitors last year.

Gran Casa, inaugurated in 1997, has a gross leasable area spanning 80,000 m2, almost half of which is occupied by Hipercor, and with an overall occupancy rate of 93%. Last year, the shopping centre, located in Zaragoza, received 12.2 million visitors.

If the transaction goes ahead, it will be the largest (non-corporate) operation in the real estate sector so far this year by transaction volume.

Moreover, the sale of the Summit portfolio would clear the way for the sale of another major commercial portfolio by Unibail Rodamco.

The shopping centre giant has hung the “for sale” sign up over four of its shopping centres in Spain – Los Arcos (Sevilla), Bahía Sur (Cádiz), Vallsur (Valladolid) and El Faro (Badajoz) – an operation that may exceed the volume of Project Summit.

Investment

According to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks (AECC), last year 29 transactions, involving 36 assets, were closed for a total sum of €2.7 billion, which represented growth of 35% YoY.

So far this year, several significant operations have been closed such as the sale of a portfolio of 14 premises by Inditex to the German fund Deka for €370 million (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carrefour’s RE Subsidary Acquires 6 Shopping Centres for €182M

4 May 2018 – El Economista

Carmila, the real estate subsidiary of Carrefour, has acquired six shopping centres next to its hypermarkets in Spain from the fund Pradera European Retail, for a total consideration of €182 million and with an average yield of 6.3%, according to a statement issued by the French company on Friday.

Through these new acquisitions, the group plans to renew these spaces with the aim of revitalising them towards a family concept to optimise occupancy rates and strengthen their activity with the deployment of digital marketing tools, such as websites, databases and service kiosks.

The company’s new assets, which have been financed through bond debt amounting to €350 million issued in February, are located in Córdoba, Cádiz, Sevilla, Alicante and in Barcelona, where it has acquired two shopping centres.

At the end of last year, Carmila’s total portfolio comprised 206 shopping centres, located in France, Spain and Italy, worth €5.8 billion in total. The company, which is listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, will hold its General Shareholders’ Meeting on 16 May and will present its half-year results on 27 July.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meco’s Town Hall Approves Occupancy of 1.9 million m2 of Industrial Land

27 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid has a new batch of industrial land. The Town Hall of Meco has approved the occupancy of the largest surface area of industrial land in the whole of the Community of Madrid, placing at the disposal of companies a space spanning 1.9 million m2 in total.

The design of the new industrial estate, which is equivalent in size to 266 Santiago Bernabéu football pitches, has been approved, and now is the time to develop the land and promote it. The development of the land has been “claimed by and agreed with the public company Obras de Madrid”, which is the sole owner of one of the sectors of new industrial space and, therefore, “may start its development and promotion from tomorrow”.

Large companies such as Carrefour, Inditex and ICP Logistic are just some of the firms that have expressed their interest in setting up activity on the land that has just been approved, according to the Town Hall.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

ASG Purchases 19 Gas Stations in Northern Spain from Axa

6 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Activum SG is backing alternative investments. The company, which operates in Spain under the name ASG, has acquired 19 gas stations in the north of Spain, which had been owned until now by Axa Real Estate.

The assets are located in areas adjacent to large shopping centres and hypermarkets and are linked to long-term lease contracts with Eroski and Carrefour. The purchase has been carried out through Fund V, which ASG has just closed and which forms part of its diversification strategy, according to El Confidencial.

In 2011, Axa Real Estate acquired a portfolio of 28 gas stations from Eroski for €55 million. Following that operation, the supermarket group continued its gas station activity on the basis of a 20-year rental regime.

ActivumSG is expanding rapidly in Spain. At the beginning of the year, the company announced the creation of a new €500 million fund for real estate investments across Europe, as Eje Prime revealed. Of those, three are located in the Spanish market.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake