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27/10/2014 – Expansion
The Alaska Permanent Fund, State-owned fund managing the U.S. government pensions, also wants to invest in Spanish real estate. The corporation has sealed a deal with Inmochan, property management arm of the Auchan group, on co-investment in three retail parks, two of them located in Portugal and one in Spain.
The Alaska Permanent Fund is going to award management of the shopping malls to CBRE Global Investors. The U.S. investor was assisted by Deloitte Real Estate in the deal.
The three properties will be administered by a joint venture created by the parties and held fifty-fifty. The operation is said to involve a €150 million amount.
When it comes to the Spanish asset, it is situated in Orihuela, Alicante. Developed by Inmochan, the Zenia Boulevard retail park has a 160.000 square meter built area and a 80.500 square meter gross lettable area (GLA). Moreover, it offers 5.000 parking spaces. Auchan is the main tenant of the unit occupying 14.000 square meters.
New Players
The arrival of the pension fund from Alaska adds another less-opportunistic profile to the list of the real estate hunters in Spain. First to invest was the Canadian Pension Fund (PSP) which, together with Drago Capital, acquired the Castellana 200 for €130 million. Furthermore, the Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund that grabbed a 30% stake in real estate firm GMP for over €200 million. “Once again, this operation proves the recovery process of the sector and demonstrates the appetite of international investors for enlarging their Spanish CRE property portfolios. Still a year and half ago, it was extremely difficult to find a buyer for a shopping mall in Spain, let alone in Portugal”, explains Patricio Palomar, Research Director at CBRE.
“We are going to see more equity put in from pension funds”, portends Humprey White, Commercial Director at Knight Frank España. According to a survey carried out on 200 businessmen by the advisor in London, Spain was the top pick for real estate investment.
Original article: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)
Translation: AURA REE