Hammerson goes on shopping spree in Europe with JV partners
HAMMERSON has splurged on three shopping centres in Europe through its new joint venture with Value Retail, the owner of Bicester Village, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG and Meyer Bergman.
The FTSE 100 property firm is seeking to ramp up its exposure to the Europe’s booming outlet sector and used £70m of proceeds from its £400m share placing in September to create VIA Outlets. It said it had bought a portfolio of shopping centre outlets from The Carlyle Group, including the Alcochete in Portugal, Kungsbacka in Sweden and Excalibur in the Czech Republic.
Hammerson contributed €57m (£45.4m) towards the deal, in line with its 47 per cent interest in VIA Outlets. Chief executive David Atkins said: “This acquisition increases our scale in European outlets, which we are confident will deliver strong returns.”