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May 18, 2015

Investment Fund Orion Capital Managers have agreed to sell Plenilunio, one the major prime shopping centers in Madrid, to French Company Klépierre. Opened in 2006, the mall is strategi-cally located in the east of the city with no competition.

ING Bank Slaski S.A. and ING Bank N.V. have jointly signed a €193 million term loan facility to refinance senior debt related to the Bonarka City Center shopping mall.

Hannover Leasing has sold a majority stake in the largest urban shopping center in the Czech Republic, the Palladium in Prague. The transaction basis is real estate worth about €570 million. The seller was a holding company for which Hannover Leasing acquired the property and took over asset management. The buyer is Union Investment of Hamburg.

By way of a transaction that closed on February 3, 2015, a new investment vehicle established by Partners Group and its operating partner Northern Horizon Capital has agreed to buy a portfolio comprising the majority of the assets of BPT Optima, an institutional real estate investment vehicle.

TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the Nova Lund shopping center from Uni-bail-Rodamco for €176 million.

Retail parks are currently a hot topic of conversation: The retail format is increasingly the first choice among retailers and consumers and investors are now following suit. GfK retail expert Manuel Jahn explores why retail parks constitute a sustainable investment with genuine substance.

The German firm TLG Immobilien AG has acquired a retail park situated in Berlin-Adlershof (Treptow-Köpenick). The purchase price was €30.825 million. The seller was a property company supervised by Waypoint Real Estate GmbH (WPRE).

Atrium European Real Estate Limited, a leading owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers and retail real estate in Central and Eastern Europe, has announced that, further to its announcement on October 6, 2014, it has completed the acquisition of Focus Mall in Bydgoszcz, Poland, from Aviva Investors for €122 million.

Sierra Fund (a pan-European retail fund in which Sonae Sierra has a stake of 50.1%) and the Retail Property Fund Iberica (RPFI), which is managed by CBRE Global Investors, have sold the La Farga Shopping Center (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona) to Temprano Capital Partners.

Ewa Szafranska-Madry has been appointed Managing Director at Balmain Asset Management CEE in Warsaw. In her new function, Ewa Szafranska-Madry will be responsible for the development of the company’s property portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.

A new breed of outlet shopping malls is emerging. Outlets that no longer sit on the periphery of city life but exist at the heart of an urban development complementing retail parks, shopping centers, and high streets alike. For example the London Designer Outlet.

Southern France will soon have a new shopping destination. Viaduc Village, developed by Etche France Group, will welcome customers from the beginning of 2016.

Neinver has obtained ISO 50001 certification from TÜV Rheinland for all its shopping and outlet centers. The company is the first European business in the retail real estate sector to have an energy management system that complies with the internationally recognized standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Lunson Mitchenall has secured the Australian lifestyle brand Sheridan its first four UK designer outlet stores as it moves forward with the retailer’s UK roll-out.

Hammerson and its partners in VIA Outlets, APG, Meyer Bergman, and Value Retail, have acquired three further centers for their newly created venture established to take advantage of further growth in the European outlet sector. Purchased from The Carlyle Group, the Freeport Portfolio of outlets includes Alcochete in Portugal, Kungsbacka in Sweden, and Excalibur in the Czech Republic.

Founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, Guess is an American clothing brand and retailer that also markets accessories such as watches, jewelry, and perfumes. It will take a 161-sq-m unit in the Fashion House Outlet Center in Bucharest.

According to Barbara Topolska, COO of Neinver, the company does not just build open-air centers. Instead, it develops “villages” that draw upon the tradition, history, and architecture of the place in which they are built.

The Polish clothing chain “50 Style,” owned by Marketing Investment Group, is on an expansion drive.

It was the usual framework: Sunshine; the laid-back the historic old town; the vibrant, busy life of southern France in the midst of November; the dark-suited businessmen meeting in the Palais de Festival or in the many restaurants and bars of Cannes. It was the 20th MAPIC, the retail real estate fair, in November 2014.