A new acquisition by the second ECE Fund: The ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund II has seen the purchase of Zwickau Arcaden in Germany from its former owner Ivanhoé Cambridge.
Opened in 2000, this inner-city shopping center accommodates more than 60 specialist stores and restaurants on a sales area of approximately 13,000m². Moreover, the property also comprises 3,500m² of office space. The shopping centre is anchored, among others, by Esprit, Deichmann, dm, Douglas as well as the successful and popular regional fashion retailer Modehaus Fischer. More than 430 parking spaces are available to visitors. Following the acquisition, ECE will take over the management and leasing of Zwickau Arcaden from Unibail-Rodamco.
“The acquisition of Zwickau Arcaden adds another attractive, established shopping center to the portfolio of the second Fund,” said Dr. Volker Kraft, managing director of ECE Real Estate Partners, which established both ECE Funds. “With its central location and strong market position, Zwickau Arcaden has all the attributes for a successful and stable further development.” This will include the broadening of the tenant mix and the selective addition of suitable retail concepts. More than 6 million customers visit the center every year; its catchment area comprises 325,000 inhabitants.
Zwickau Arcaden is the fourth shopping center in the portfolio of ECE Fund II, which already includes Stern-Center Lüdenscheid, La Cartiera in the Italian city of Pompei, and the recently opened Zielone Arkady in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The investors of the ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund II include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and two insurances from Europe, Asia, and the United States, who contributed commitments of €740m to the Fund. This equals a gross asset value of approximately €2bn. ECE Fund II will pursue the investment strategy of ECE Fund I, which manages twelve European shopping centres, and will focus on acquiring existing and already opened European shopping centres with value-add potential. Its investment period will end in 2018.
