Portuguese retail and telecommunications firm Sonae has acquired a further 20% stake in its joint-owned retail property arm Sonae Sierra, from UK-based property group Grosvenor Group.
The two partners had previously each owned half (50%) of the company. Both parties have agreed upon an exchange of the 20% stake for approximately €255 million, establishing Sonae as a majority shareholder at 70%.
Sonae Sierra is a multinational retail real estate company that specialises in mainly shopping centres. The group currently manages and co-controls 46 shopping centres across Europe and South America and has a presence in 12 countries.
The company manages over 9,300 contracts with tenants and holds a gross leasable area of 1.9 million square metres. The total open market value of Sonae Sierra is approximately €7 billion.
The Grosvenor Group will continue on as a 'strategic partner' in the company, with the exit rights of a minority shareholder, Sonae said.
Strong Retail Growth
As Portugal’s largest retailer, Sonae MC, the grocery retail branch of Sonae, runs 173 stores in the country and 400 stores internationally. It recently forecast an average growth in retail sales of 2.9% per year until 2022.
This is due to the fact that 'the Portuguese grocery retail market is relatively under-penetrated and is expected to be one of the fastest growing markets in Europe', according to the company.
This figure implies that the Portuguese market is set to outstrip sales growth in Europe overall, which is projected to grow at an average of 2.2%.
The only other nation that is expected to have a higher retail growth is neighbouring Spain, Sonae's main international market, which is expected to grow at an estimated 3.1% per year. Anticipating this, in early June Sonae announced that it would establish a new Spanish head office in the capital of Madrid, employing 400 staff by early next year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Padideh Aghanoury. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
