GIC RE to buy stake in Italian shopping centre - Singapore
It enters JV with INGReal Estate to acquire Roma Est Shopping Centre
By ARTHUR SIM
GIC Real Estate (RE), the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, will take a $416.1 million stake in a shopping centre 14 km from the city centre of Rome.
In a statement released yesterday, GIC RE said it entered into a joint venture with ING Real Estate (part of Dutch ING Group) to acquire the new Roma Est Shopping Centre from Italian food-retailing leader Gruppo PAM.
The transaction is valued at 400 million euros (S$832.3 million) and is said to be the largest single asset transaction in the Italian retail market to date, said GIC RE.
GIC RE and ING RE will take equal stakes in the property.
Roma Est Shopping Centre, one of the largest shopping centres in Italy, has approximately 92,700 sq m (997,813 sq ft) of gross lettable area. It consists of a mall of 208 units, a hypermarket and a 12-screen cinema.
GIC RE president Seek Ngee Huat said: ‘Prime retail assets are rare to come by in Italy, especially one such as Roma Est Shopping Centre. It is a promising new retail asset that provides the key elements of location, operational potential and good management that we look for in investment opportunities.’
ING RE has added the property to the ING Retail Property Partnership Southern Europe (RPPSE) and has been appointed asset manager.
RPPSE fund director Maria de Rivera said: ‘We expect retail to continue to perform well in a market that is under-provided. The fund and our client, GIC Real Estate, are very happy with the transaction.’
The RPPSE fund has a target size of 1.2 billion euros to be invested in retail properties in Portugal, Spain and Italy.
ING Real Estate is an integrated real estate group focused on the development, financing and investment management of real estate in all major global markets with a total portfolio of over 100 billion euros.
So far this year, GIC RE has said it will develop a township on a site in Russia with a market value of US$1.33 billion. It was also reported that GIC will pay around $1.02 billion for The Westin Tokyo.
Source : Business Times - 06 Feb 2008
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