Barings Real Estate Advisers, part of Barings LLC, has acquired the Berceo Shopping Centre in Logroño in La Rioja, Spain from Retail Property Fund Iberica (RPFI), managed by CBRE Global Investors.
The circa 34,000 m² property, which is the dominant retail destination in Logroño, is almost fully let to a diverse mix of institutional grade International tenants including a number of the Inditex brands (Zara, Pull & Bear, Zara Home, Stradivarius, and Bershka), Primark, H&M, Media Markt, El Corte Inglés, Forum and Yelmo (one of Spain’s leading cinema operators). The shopping centre is located adjacent to a Carrefour hypermarket and footfall for the shopping centre in 2017 was at a record level of 6.8 million. This was 11% above the level of footfall in 2016 and outperformed the average footfall in Spain according to ShopperTracker.
Berceo Shopping Centre is situated on the edge of Logroño, the capital city of La Rioja. La Rioja has the sixth highest GDP and Disposal Income per Capita of the 17 Spanish regions. The property is located at one of the city’s main intersections with access to motorways connecting Logroño with other areas of La Rioja, in addition to Navarra, Aragon and the Basque Country.
Adolfo Favieres, Country Head of Spain at Barings Real Estate Advisers, said, “This transaction presents a rare opportunity to acquire a core shopping centre in a strong urban location with best in class retailers and limited competition in the surrounding area. Even though the asset is almost fully let, we have identified a number of short and medium-term asset management initiatives to enhance the centre and drive the NOI forward, such as increasing the amount of space for food and beverage operators, which will ensure this asset continues to attract high levels of footfall and high-quality tenants.”
Gunther Deutsch, Managing Director and Head of Investment Transactions Europe at Barings Real Estate Advisers said, “Berceo Shopping Centre was our fourth acquisition in Spain during 2017 following the acquisition of logistics assets in Zaragoza and Ontigola, as well as a retail development in Madrid, and further strengthens our presence in the Spanish market. For 2018 we will continue to focus on the office, logistics and retail sectors but will also be widening our remit to include hotel and residential assets. Furthermore, we will be looking to become more active on the development side either developing projects ourselves or through partnering with local developers in order to deliver value for our investors.”
Cushman & Wakefield, Arcadis, Dentons and Deloitte acted as advisers to Barings on this transaction.
