CBRE Global Investors has completed its first successful year for its European Shopping Centre Fund (ESCF) with the acquisition of Centre Commercial Boissénart from Klépierre for approximately 68 million.
The 11,450 m² Boissénart shopping center is located in Cesson Savigny le Temple in the Paris Region and is the fund's first ever purchase in France. The center, which attracts over 5.5 million visitors a year is anchored by a 14,000 m² Auchan Hypermarket and comprises 52 units let to national and international brands (87%) as well as smaller independent retailers (13%).
Florencio Beccar, Fund Manager ESCF said: "We can now look back to a successful first year in operation for ESCF. We have received strong investor support, sourced solid investment opportunities delivering positive returns and achieved exposure to target markets of Sweden, Belgium and France.
"For 2012, we will continue implementing our investment strategy, which is to focus on shopping centers with a strong track record in the core markets of continental Europe: Sweden, France, Benelux and Germany. This strategy is well tuned to the current environment; it is defensive, focuses on the cash generation track record of assets and provides a diversified income stream.
"We will face a challenging environment this year but we are confident it will provide good opportunities for our asset class."
The European Shopping Centre Fund was launched in December 2010 and is a closed-end, seven year lifetime, private real estate fund that invests in dominant core shopping centers across continental Europe. The fund seeks to provide investors with core plus returns in the range of 11% 13% after payment of all fund level fees and expenses, with an average LTV of 30%.
The Fund has already received equity commitments in excess of 220 million and has AuM of more than 260 million.
Source: Citigate Dewe Rogerson
