Eurocommercial Properties N.V. has completed the purchase of the Valbo shopping centre in Gävle, Sweden.
Valbo is the only regional shopping centre in the county of Gästrikland, central Sweden, which serves a catchment of around 250,000 people. It has 37,200 m² of lettable area and is well-positioned alongside the E16 motorway between Gävle and Sandviken. The shopping centre is let to 70 tenants and is anchored by a 6,775 m² Coop hypermarket. Other major retailers include H&M, Systembolaget, Clas Ohlson, KappAhl, Lindex, Stadium and the main Varner Group brands. The centre is attached, and partly-let, to an IKEA store. The retail zone is further strengthened by the nearby Valbo retail park where major tenants include Elgiganten, MediaMarkt, MIO and XXL.
Eurocommercial Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Lewis, said: “Valbo is an excellent shopping centre with significant potential for further improvement, and is an important addition to our portfolio of high-quality retail assets. Its location, tenant mix and lack of competition meet our core criteria for acquisitions in Sweden - the dominant external centre in a leading provincial city, anchored by a hypermarket.”
Eurocommercial Director and Head of Sweden, Peter Mills, added: “Eurocommercial has built up considerable experience in buying, managing and developing well-located retail properties in established and wealthy markets. Today’s announcement follows our recent acquisition of the 40,600 m² C4 Shopping development outside Kristianstad (now over 80% pre-let) and the successful re-launch of the fully-let Hallarna outside Halmstad, which has attracted a strong roster of new retail brands for the region and will have around 90 tenants once the 44,000 m² project is completed this year.”
The Valbo shopping centre was acquired by Eurocommercial at a price of c. €116m (SEK 1.14 bn) yielding in the region of 5.3%. The acquisition was partially funded by the recent sales in Sweden of Mellby and 421, Göteborg.
