The majority of the properties, located in cities such as Porto, Lisbon, Faro, and along the Algarve coast, are let to Pingo Doce. Importantly, as part of LCN’s acquisition, long-term lease renewals have been negotiated. The disposal marks another step in the ongoing strategic portfolio optimisation, the goal being to sharpen Trei’s profile as a developer, and to focus on its core markets of Germany, the United States and Poland to this end.
Pepijn Morshuis, CEO of Trei Real Estate, commented: “For a few years now, we have been downscaling the number of countries we want to focus on while simultaneously intensifying our development efforts and our diversification in those countries where we remain active. In the future, we plan to concentrate entirely on the development of residential projects in these three core markets and on the expansion of our retail parks under the Vendo Park brand in Poland.”
Pepijn Morshuis added: “Our retail real estate portfolio in Portugal generated a stable cash flow in recent years. There was plenty of interest in these 49 valuable and well-frequented sites, and we are glad to have found a professional and trustful buyer in LCN Capital Partners.”
Edward LaPuma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of LCN Capital Partners, commented: “We have been growing our sale-leaseback and build-to-suit portfolio across Europe over the last decade. We believe this portfolio is a great addition to our latest European Fund and highlights our ability to partner with our tenant-clients, like Pingo Doce, to help them grow and meet their goals. After closing on this investment, LCN will be one of Europe’s largest private grocery store owners. I want to thank the deal teams of Trei and LCN and the respective advisors who were able to close this transaction. Moreover, we want to welcome Pingo Doce as one of our important tenant-clients and look forward to working with them.”
The retail property portfolio includes a total lettable area of around 68,000 square meters. Out of the total, 44 properties are let to Pingo Doce, the second-largest supermarket chain in Portugal. The other retail properties are occupied by the supermarket chains Continente and Minipreço. Trei Real Estate was advised by CBRE and MORAIS LEITÃO during the transaction. LCN was advised by Cushman & Wakefield, PLMJ, KPMG and Engexpor.
