W. P. Carey has announced a €102m sale-leaseback of three hypermarket properties located in Southern and Central France. The portfolio comprises a total of 39,500m² and is triple-net leased to Distribution Casino France, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Casino Guichard-Perrachon, one of the largest food retailers in the world.
Key Facts:
- Market-leading essential retailer: Established in 1898, Casino is one of the world’s largest food retailers with approximately 11,000 stores in France and Latin America. Casino maintains a multi-format strategy, operating discount, convenience, cash and carry, supermarket and hypermarket retail stores under various brands. It is also the second-largest e-commerce retailer in France.
- Established locations with limited local competition: The acquired hypermarkets are located in Southern and Central France, predominantly in dense urban infill areas forecast to experience above-average population growth, and where Casino is the market leader with limited competition.
- High-performing properties in a resilient industry: The properties are established grocery sites that rank among Casino’s top hypermarkets. As an essential retailer, the grocery sector has maintained strong demand during the pandemic.
- Commitment to sustainability: The only retailer included in The Wall Street Journal’s “World’s Top 100 Most Sustainably Managed Companies” list, Casino is a leader in the transition to renewable energy and has committed to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and electricity use by 2025.
- Long-term lease with built-in rent growth: The assets are triple-net leased with French CPI-based rent escalations and secured by a parent guarantee.
Christopher Mertlitz, Head of European Investments, W. P. Carey, said: “We are thrilled to continue our positive momentum in Europe with the completion of another off-market grocery retail sale-leaseback, an asset class which has proven its resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sale-leasebacks enable companies to easily unlock the full value of their real estate and redeploy into their core businesses. We welcome the addition of these high-quality essential retail assets to our growing portfolio, and we look forward to building on our partnership with our newest tenant.”
