Tag: hipercor

El Corte Inglés Closes Los Arcos & Bahía Sur Shopping Centres and Sells Them to Castellana Properties

27 May 2019 – Cinco Días

El Corte Inglés has reached an agreement with Castellana Properties to sell two shopping centres in Andalucía, specifically Los Arcos (11,000 m2) in Sevilla and Bahía Sur (12,000 m2) in Cádiz, for €36.8 million.

The deal will become effective on 30 September, on which date both the El Corte Inglés store in Bahía Sur and the Hipercor in Los Arcos will be closed. The department store group will use the funds to reduce its debt, which amounted to €3.7 billion at the end of the first half of 2018.

The operation does not form part of Project Green, the portfolio containing 95 non-strategic real estate assets that ECI has entrusted to PwC, and whose sale is still on-going. According to market sources, the only bid received so far for the entire portfolio has come from the US fund Apollo.

Meanwhile, the Socimi Castellana Properties, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), is controlled by the South African group Vukile, and has 17 assets in its portfolio including shopping centres, retail parks and offices spanning a combined leasable surface area of 317,106 m2, worth €916 million.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz & Javier García Ropero)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Intu’s New Strategy in Spain: to Change the Names of its Shopping Centres

16 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Intu is betting on branding to raise the profile of its name in Spain. The company, which has a vast presence in the United Kingdom, where it owns almost twenty shopping centres, is going to replicate its British strategy in Spain, by adding the word Intu to the name of its retail complexes. This week, the company announced that its shopping centre in Zaragoza, which has been called Puerto Venecia to date, is now going to be named Intu Puerto Venecia.

It was in 2014 when Intu reached an agreement with the fund Orion European Real Estate to acquire the Puerto Venecia complex, the largest shopping centre in Spain, for €451 million. The complex contains a retail park spanning 82,600 m2, which was inaugurated in 2008 and a leisure and fashion area measuring 130,000 m2, which opened in October 2012 (…).

Since the purchase by Intu, the British group has carried out a series of changes to the appearance and management of the shopping centre. But it has not been until now that the group has decided to complete the process by adding the word Intu to the name of the complex, whereby following in the footsteps of Intu Asturias.

Now, the next step will be for Intu to apply the same strategy to the Xanadú shopping centre. The British group completed the purchase of that shopping centre, located in Arroyomolinos (Madrid), from Ivanhoé Cambridge for more than €520 million in March last year. That acquisition was the largest operation since Deutsche Bank paid €495 million for Diagonal Mar.

In May of the same year, Intu created a joint venture with TH Real Estate to share the ownership of the Madrilenian shopping centre, transferring 50% of the complex to TH Real Estate for €264.4 million, half of the amount that it had paid for Xanadú.

That shopping centre, constructed in 2003, has a total surface area of 153,695 m2 spread over two storeys and with a total of 220 stores, making it one of the largest retail complexes in Madrid. Its tenants include Inditex, El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Bricor, Decathlon, Primark and Apple. Xanadú Madrid receives almost 13 million visitors per year and generates sales of around €230 million.

Shopping centres on the rise in Spain

Intu’s commitment to Spain comes at a good time for this retail format in the country. Sales registered at these complexes rose by 3.5% in 2017, to exceed €43.5 billion.

Specifically, revenues in the sector amounted to €43.59 billion in 2017. The market share of shopping centres and retail parks rose to reach 17.9%. Last year, around 1,900 million visits were registered at these complexes.

Meanwhile, investment in the sector soared by 35% in 2017, to €2.7 billion. During the course of last year, 29 transactions were closed involving 36 assets, according to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks (AECC).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Itaroa Shopping Centre (Navarra) Goes Up For Sale

15 March 2018 – Expansión

The shopping centre sector is still red hot. After the intense investment activity of last year, which has continued during the first few months of 2018, new assets are still coming onto the market. The latest is Itaroa, a shopping centre located in Huarte (Navarra), which has hung up the for sale sign, according to market sources speaking to Expansión.

The asset, managed by the local property developer Javier Gómez, has a surface area of 42,000 m2 and contains a Hipercor, owned by El Corte Inglés, which would not form part of the sales process. To search for potential buyers, the owner has engaged the consultancy firm Colliers International Spain, formerly Irea.

The vendor is asking around €90 million for the asset. The Itaroa shopping centre is mortgaged to the German financial institution Aareal Bank by way of guarantee for a €71 million loan. The mortgage was constituted in 2003 and has been renewed on several occasions, according to the latest information available from the Mercantile Registry.

Last year, Itaroa launched a renovation of its leisure and restaurant area to expand and improve the offer at the centre with the incorporation of new brands. It spent €4 million on that expansion.

Itaroa’s tenants in the fashion and accessories sectors include brands such as Zara, Sfera, Merkal, Bershka and Décimas. The shopping centre is also home to a Yelmo cinema.

This move comes in addition to the sale of a portfolio by Sonae Sierra and CBRE GI comprising three assets and the sale of the Ballonti centre (Vizcaya). Last year, the investment market for shopping centres reached a volume of around €2.7 billion, thanks to record operations such as the purchase of Xanadú, in Arroyomolinos (Madrid), for €530 million. The investor appetite is expected to continue this year, which has led some owners taking advantage of the situation to divest.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel

British Fund Intu Finalises Purchase Of Xanadú For c. €520M

10 March 2017 – Expansión

The British private equity fund Intu is finalising the completion of a record deal in the Spanish real estate market with the purchase of the Xanadú shopping centre (in Arroyomolinos, Madrid) from Ivanhoé Cambridge for around €520 million, according to market sources.

The purchase – which the fund has been negotiating in exclusivity since January – will represent the largest operation involving a shopping centre in the history of the Spanish market, whereby exceeding the €495 million that Deutsche Bank paid for Diagonal Mar (Barcelona) last August, the €451 million that Intu paid for Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza) and the €375 million that Klépierre paid for Plenilunio (Madrid).

CBRE and the law firm Clifford Chance have advised Intu during the operation, whilst Eastdil has advised Ivanhoé, which bought Xanadú from the Mills Corporation in 2006, along with two other shopping centres, one in Canada – Vaughan Mills (Ontario) and one in Scotland – Saint Enoch (Glasgow) – for a combined value of around €770 million.

The operation will be financed by Santander, Crédit Agricole, CaixaBank and BBVA with a loan to value (percentage value of the asset that is covered by the loan) of 40%.

In parallel, Intu is looking for a partner to whom to transfer 50% of the share capital in Madrid Xanadú 2003, the company that owns the shopping centre. Market sources point to the Canadian fund CPPIB as a possible ally. Both firms are already partners in two other Spanish shopping centres owned by Intu: Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza) and Parque Principado (Asturias).

One of the other candidates interested in acquiring the asset was TH Real Estate, but it was pipped at the post a few months ago by Intu, as revealed by Expansión on 31 January.

With this operation, Intu, which has plans to develop new shopping centres in Málaga, Valencia, Mallorca and Vigo, is strengthening its position in Spain and picking up one of the trophy shopping centres in Madrid to boot.

The shopping centre, constructed in 2003, has a total surface area of 153,695 m2 spread over two levels and 220 stores. Its tenants include Inditex, El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Bricor, Decathlon, Primark and Apple.

Xanadú Madrid receives almost 13 million visitors per year and generates sales of around €230 million.

The shopping centre houses an indoor ski area – the only one in Spain and the largest in Europe – covering around 18,000 m2, as well as 15 cinema screens, a mini-golf course, a mini theme park, themed restaurants and a bowling alley.

In addition, Ivanhoé signed an agreement with Parques Reunidos last summer to construct an aquarium in Madrid Xanadú. Both companies reached an agreement with Viacom International Media Networks, a division of Viacom, to construct a theme park based on Nickelodeon characters in Xanadú.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Casado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Intu To Buy Xanadú Shopping Centre In Madrid For €500M

1 February 2017 – Real Estate Press

Intu has put the highest offer on the table for the Xanadú shopping centre and, although the final terms of the deal have not yet been agreed, all indications suggest that the British group will end up acquiring the sought-after asset.  

Market sources say that the price of this operation (…) could reach as much as €500 million, with an initial yield of almost 4%. That figure would represent a milestone for the market and represents yet another example of the high degree of interest being shown in this kind of asset.

A price of €500 million would exceed the €495 million paid by Deutsche Bank when it purchased Diagonal Mar in Barcelona last year and would make it the largest shopping centre transaction ever closed in Spain.

The Xanadú shopping centre, which is located in the Madrilenian municipality of Arroyomolinos, was inaugurated in May 2003 and is owned by the Canadian group Ivanhoé Cambrdige, the real estate division of Caisse de Dépôt et placement du Québec, one of Canada’s largest institutional funds.

Ivanhoé bought Madrid Xanadú in 2006 from Mills Corporation, together with two other shopping centres, one in Canada – Vaughan Mills (Ontario) and one in Scotland – Saint Enoch (Glasgow) – for a combined value of around €770 million.

The shopping centre in Arroyomolinos has a total surface area of c. 180,000 m2, as well as almost 10,000 parking spaces, of which 500 are indoors.

Madrid Xanadú houses almost 220 stores, leased to tenants such as Hipercor, El Corte Inglés, Bricor, Apple, Hollister and Decathlon. It also offers leisure facilities, oriented towards families and young people, including a 15-screen cinema, a mini-golf course, a mini theme park, themed restaurants and a bowling alley.

The shopping centre also has an indoor ski area, the only one in Spain and the largest in Europe, with almost 18,000 m2 of slopes.

Moreover, last summer, Ivanhoé signed an agreement with the attraction park manager Parques Reunidos to construct an Aquarium in Madrid Xanadú. Both companies reached the agreement with Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a division of Viacom to construct a leisure centre with characters from Nickelodeon at Madrid Xanadú.

The aquarium, which will open its doors in 2017, will be the first in Madrid and the first in a shopping centre in Spain, whilst the Nickelodeon leisure centre will open its doors at the beginning of 2018 and will be the first of its kind in Madrid. Madrid Xanadú is located fifteen minutes from the centre of the capital by car and is well connected to all points in the Community of Madrid.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

El Corte Inglés Values Its Properties In Galicia At €600m

26 January 2015 – La Voz De Galicia

El Corte Inglés’s Galician assets account for almost 5% of the total, valued at €15,000 million.

The value of the real estate assets owned by El Corte Inglés in Galicia amounts to €601 million. So the company led by Dimas Gimeno revealed in information sent to the Irish Stock Exchange (the stock market in Ireland), on the occasion of its first bond issue (€500 million) placed by Hipercor.

According to the 333-page document, El Corte Inglés owns 217,000 square metres of retail space in Galicia, with an average value of €2,344 per square metre. Overall, the group’s most expensive buildings are located in Madrid (€4,823 million), followed by Andalucía (€2,563 million) and Cataluña (€1,646 million).

The group has explained to the Irish regulator that Tinsa Tasaciones Inmobiliaria valued most of the group’s property portfolio in September 2013 and March 2014, and assigned it an aggregated value of €15,126 million, of which almost 5% (by surface area) is located in the region of Galicia.

Department stores account for the majority of the group’s real estate assets (€9,187 million), followed by hypermarkets (€4,338 million), other retail space (€803 million) and offices and mixed-use properties (€797 million). “The group has developed an irreplicable property portfolio with unique locations” says the group.

At the end of last year, the group had around 1,555 outlets in total, including 88 department stores, 43 hypermarkets, 203 supermarkets and 451 specialist stores.

42 properties

According to the document, at the end of last year, the group’s commercial presence in Galicia comprised 42 outlets located across the four provinces, including Viajes El Corte Inglés offices (15), Sfera stores (11), Bricor stores (4), Óptica 2000 shops (4), Hipercor stores (2), Supercor shops (11) and El Corte Inglés stores (4).

The department store business accounts for almost 60% of the group’s consolidated turnover. Including Hipercor, Sfera and Viajes El Corte Inglés, amongst others, the group’s revenue amounted to €14,291 million in 2013.

Within the department store division, 51.1% of turnover is generated by the fashion, accessories, jewellery and beauty departments, which together accounted for revenues of €3,858 million.

In the document submitted to the Irish regulator, the group also highlighted the importance of its brands (the fashion lines Emilio Tucci, Green Coast, Dustin and Formul@), which now account for 16% of revenues, compared with 11% in 2008.

The group also revealed that approximately 635 million people visited its stores during 2013. Furthermore, 155 million people visited its website, where it has 4.2 million registered users.

Only twelve female directors

In the final part of the report, which focuses on accounting aspects, there is also mention of employment considerations.

For example, last year, its workforce comprised 93,223 employees, however only 12 of its executives were women, compared with 186 men. Also, 4,276 females were employed as supervisors, versus 9,141 men. In stores, however, women were in the majority, with 47,434 female sales assistants, versus 18,283 males.

Original story: La Voz De Galicia (by M. Sío Dopeso)

Translation: Carmel Drake