TH Real Estate has acquired Meraville Retail Park in Bologna, Italy, on behalf of its European Cities Fund for a net initial yield of circa 6%. Acquired from Orion IV European 4 S.à.r.l. (a subsidiary of Orion European Real Estate Fund IV), this is the first acquisition for the Fund, which was launched on 1 March 2016 as a pan-European open-ended real estate investment vehicle with €200m of equity.
Located in Bologna, the capital of Emilia Romagna and Italy’s second wealthiest city, Meraville Retail Park benefits from a 30-minute drive time catchment of nearly 800,000 people. In a rating of 1,200 European regions by TH Real Estate’s research team on factors such as employment growth, employment structure, unemployment, population growth and GDP per capita, Bologna rated in the top 12%.
"With its high occupancy rate, strong sales performance and location in Italy’s second wealthiest city, Meraville Retail Park perfectly meets our investment requirements for the European Cities Fund,” Mario Pellò, head of investment, Italy, TH Real Estate, said. “We believe that the retail warehouse market will be a sector where we will continue to see yield advantage and that Meraville specifically presents strong asset management opportunities.”
The retail park adds to TH Real Estate’s strong presence across Italy, where its current portfolio of 11 assets totals c.€1.3bn AUM.
