W. P. Carey Inc., a real estate investment trust ('REIT') specializing in corporate sale and leaseback and build to suit, single-tenant construction financing, announced today that CPA®:17 Global, one of its publicly held non-traded REIT affiliates, has acquired a portfolio of eight retail stores in Croatia.
The total acquisition price was approximately 34.6 million (approx. US $46 million). The sites will be long-term, triple-net leased to Konzum, a subsidiary of Agrokor d.d. (S&P: 'B / Positive Outlook').
With approximately 4 billion in annual revenues and nearly 35,000 employees, Agrokor d.d. is the largest private company in Croatia and one of the leading food companies in Eastern Europe. Agrokor is Croatia's largest food and drink producer, processor, distributor and retailer.
Located in the towns surrounding Zagreb as well as in busy tourist destinations along the Adriatic Coast, the stores range from modern hypermarkets to smaller traditional supermarkets.
Jeffrey Lefleur, Managing Director of W. P. Carey, said: "This transaction marks our fourth long-term investment with Agrokor over the past three years. We value Agrokor as an attractive, recession-resistant covenant that can provide us attractive risk-adjusted returns in an otherwise challenging and low-yielding investment environment in Europe."
Ivica Todoriæ, Founder and President of Agrokor said: "We have now closed four long term financings with W. P. Carey totaling 192 million. W. P. Carey continues to be an important and reliable source of funding for the business and we are delighted to be working with them again."
W. P. Carey has a successful history in providing long-term finance for European food retailers completing over 1 billion (approx. $1.3 billion) to date. The retail food market fits closely with W. P. Carey's investment strategy of acquiring mission-critical assets from strong creditors in safe, defensive sectors.
Source: W. P. Carey
