Two shopping centres in the Algarve have been sold by Portuguese shopping centre group Sonae Sierra to the CA Património Crescente fund, owned by Square Asset Management.
The deal includes AlbufeiraShopping and Centro Comercial Continente de Portimão, which will continue being managed by Sonae Sierra despite the transfer in ownership to Square Asset which describes itself as “one of the largest real estate asset management companies in Portugal”.
How much the two malls were sold for was not revealed, however.
As Jornal de Negócios points out, this latest transaction follows a series of other commercial real estate deals that have been completed throughout Portugal which have made 2018 “one of the most intense years” in terms of these kinds of deals.
On Monday, January 22, AXA Investment Managers announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase Lisbon’s Dolce Vita Tejo for €230 million.
Immochan, a subsidiary company belonging to the Auchan group which owns the Jumbo supermarket chain, also announced just a few days later that it had purchased Blackstone’s three shopping centres in Portugal for €400 million. The deal includes Sintra Retail Park, Fórum Sintra and Fórum Montijo.
It has also been reported that Fórum Almada, also owned by Blackstone, is due to be taken over by Spanish group Merlin.
At the start of the year, Sonae had also been involved in two similar deals having sold MaiaShopping and GuimarãesShopping to Ocidental which belongs to Belgian insurer Ageas.
Jornal de Negócios also suggests that the group is due to sell Serra Shopping in Covilhã for €70 million, while RioSul Shopping in Seixal is also said to be on the market.
In a statement announcing the sale of the Algarve malls, Sonae Sierra CEO Fernando Guedes de Olivera said that the deal “reflects our ability to implement a pro-active management strategy of our real estate assets”. He added that it also proves that their quality is “recognised” in the market.
michael.bruxo@algarveresident.com
