ECI Sells Building On Plaza Magdalena In Sevilla To Stoneweg

26 October 2017 – Modaes.es

El Corte Inglés is pushing ahead with the divestment of its real estate. The department store group has sold a building on Plaza Magdalena in Sevilla to the fund Stoneweg for €10 million, according to reports by Eje Prime.

The asset, which used to house one of the group’s department stores, until 2012, was constructed in the 1950s. Stoneweg plans to completely renovate the building and turn it into a hotel, as part of its diversification strategy, whereby adding that activity along with logistics to its residential business.

Comprising five floors, the building was inaugurated in October 1959, as the first headquarters of Galerías Preciados and at the time, it was a pioneer in the new techniques of department store selling in Sevilla. A decade later, it closed its doors for a refit to become a furniture store under the same company, which opened a second building in San Pablo around the same time.

El Corte Inglés purchased both buildings in 1995 as part of the operation to acquire the assets of Galerías Preciados in Spain and it maintained it as a centre for the sale of household products and furniture, until five years ago. The Madrilenian group currently operates from another centre in the same square.

In 2016, El Corte Inglés launched a project to sell some of its properties located in various Spanish cities, with a combined valuation of more than €400 million.

One of the most recent operations carried out by the company in this regard was the sale in September of 40% of the company Iberiafon, owner of Torre Serrano in Madrid, for €50 million.

The group closed 2016 with revenues up by 1.9%, to €15,505 million and a net result of €161.86 million, up by 2.4% compared to the previous year.

Original story: Modaes.es (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake