Henderson Global Investors, the independent asset manager with £67.7 billion under management, has acquired the Metropolis Shopping Centre in Rende, Cosenza, Italy for its HERALD European Retail Property Fund.
The 25,722 m² (276,857 ft²) shopping center is anchored by a new Iperspar hypermarket and includes tenants such as Mediaworld and Piazza Italia. It is the largest shopping center in the Calabria region and is one of the major retail destinations in the south of Italy.
This is the HERALDs second European deal, following its recent acquisition of a retail warehouse park in Sweden, bringing the total investment to €120 million.
James Bury, Manager of the HERALD Fund, comments:
The center is performing very well. It has a strong tenant mix and offers Henderson good ongoing asset management opportunities. This is the first acquisition in Italy for the HERALD Fund since its first closing earlier this year and the fund has a number of other retail projects in the pipeline across Italy and Europe. We are constantly on the look out for similar performing investments as we continue to grow the fund.
Hendersons HERALD Fund was launched in December 2005 to acquire retail warehouses, shopping centers and city center retail investments that offer asset management, refurbishment or development opportunities. The fund, which closed in March at over €400 million equity, has an investment focus on Eurozone countries, particularly Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
Henderson was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle.
Source: Henderson
