This transaction had already been concluded in December but was only greenlit by the European Merger Regulation now. Union Investment and Generali Real Estate signed the agreement to acquire the Puerto Venecia shopping centre as part of a 50% - 50% joint venture. Union Investment acquired its 50% share for the open-ended real estate fund, Unilmmo: Deutschland and Generali Real Estate acquired its 50% on behalf of Generali Shopping Center Fund SCS.
Intu Puerto Venecia is a 120.000 sqm shopping centre located in Zaragoza. The components of the transaction are a shopping centre with 193 shops and a retail park.
On this operation Matthew Roberts, chief executive of intu, commented in a release: «We are pleased to have successfully concluded this transaction which is another important step in our ultimate strategic objective to fix the balance sheet over the medium term».
This process was thus concluded according to the projections mentioned by intu in its latest report concerning last year, which mentioned that « the transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020 following the successful conclusion of certain regulatory approvals».
According to the same document, this operation should «deliver net proceeds to intu of around £95.4 million (108.04 million euro) after repaying asset-level debt, working capital adjustments, fees and taxation».
This process was advised by consultant CBRE on behalf of intu and by Cushman & Wakefield on behalf of the buyers, according to newspaper Expansión.
