EPISO 4, the latest value-add/opportunity style fund advised by pan-European real estate investment manager Tristan Capital Partners, has agreed to purchase a 15-property portfolio of neighbourhood shopping centres and strips of shops in the Netherlands from the insurance group Delta Lloyd for €273m.
Ali Otmar, managing director investments at Tristan Capital Partners, said: “This is the second investment in the Netherlands made by the fund in the space of six months. Well-located retail assets like these will benefit as consumer confidence improves, a theme that we have pursued already in Germany and the UK. This portfolio combines a solid convenience-focused tenant base serving good catchments areas with plenty of asset management opportunities.”
Sectie5 Investments based in Amsterdam has co-invested alongside European Property Investors Special Opportunities 4 (EPISO 4) and will act as local operating partner in advising the joint venture on asset management and other repositioning initiatives.
The 15 properties acquired by EPISO 4 are mainly located in the Randstad, the central conurbation of the Netherlands that includes the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht. The shopping centres offer a total of 120,400m2 of space that is occupied by tenants including major retail brands Ahold, Jumbo, Action, Hema and Blokker. All of the larger shopping centres in the portfolio are anchored by one or two supermarkets.
With the sale of the retail portfolio Delta Lloyd has now divested its entire commercial property portfolio. Delta Lloyd has shifted the focus of its direct property investments entirely to residential property. In November, Delta Lloyd sold its office investment portfolio for € 226 million to First Sponsor Group. Both transactions are expected to have a limited impact on the group’s solvency ratio. Hans van der Noordaa, chairman of Delta Lloyd’s Executive Board: “The sale of the retail and office portfolios is part of the management actions announced for our transition to Solvency II. The actions we are taking, which, among other things, will improve our risk position, are progressing to our satisfaction. By now, we have disposed of around €500m of commercial investment property, and this will help to simplify our property portfolio and reduce the risks in our investment portfolio.”
