Barings has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of hypermarkets in France from Cora, a chain of hypermarkets owned by Louis Delhaize Group. Located in Metz, Mulhouse, Evian and Quincy-sous-Sénart, well-known secondary cities across France, the portfolio comprises a total of four assets with a total lettable area of 85,876m² across 400,000m² of land. The transaction has been agreed as a sale-and-leaseback with Cora, with all four assets agreeing 12-year leases at the point of completion.
Guillaume Bieganski, Real Estate Country Head – France, at Barings said: “Hypermarkets have remained resilient in recent years, despite headwinds in other retail segments and the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are confident that food-anchored retail, like Cora, will continue to be attractive to investors, particularly in the current inflationary environment.”
Gunther Deutsch, Managing Director and Head of Europe Real Estate Transactions, at Barings, said: “This portfolio was a unique opportunity to acquire a portfolio of dominant local retail assets. Our preferred sectors across Europe continue to be logistics, office and residential, but the quality of the portfolio, combined with a very strong tenant covenant, excess land and long leases, made it a compelling investment prospect.”
Josselin Granier, Group Real Estate Director, at Louis Delhaize said: “The terms and conditions of this pure S&L transaction were determined considering the Group’s experience of similar deals operated over the last few years for hypermarkets, supermarkets, and shopping malls in various countries. Securing a long-term lease back with conservative rents and market conditions remains our core strategy. We took this decision after thoroughly assessing the quality of each of our real estate assets and we see it as an important leverage for further local development. We look forward to working with Barings as a long-term partner securing and developing our commercial footprint.”
