The first Real Estate Investment and Management Society (SIGI) - a Portuguese legal regime equivalent to international REIT - concluded the purchase of a super and hypermarket portfolio with a total combined area of 21.227 sqm. The assets are located in Porto (Asprela), Santa Maria da Feira (Mozelos civil parish), Covilhã, Faro and Amadora (Reboleira civil parish), revealed the release published this Wednesday at CMVM.
These 5 retail areas now acquired have long-term rental contracts with operators from the segment, which assures its immediate revenues. 4 of these commercial areas are leased to Continente and one to Pingo Doce, advanced the same document.
This is the REIT’s first market operation, concluded around 8 months after Sonae Sierra and Bankinter announced its launch on the market with 100 million euro available to invest, only one month after having joined Euronext Access Lisbon.
As advanced by the companies in a release sent to the press, this acquisition is part of the «strategy defined for ORES Portugal, making a decisive contribution to achieving the investment goals in terms of stable real estate assets, located in important urban areas across the country for the long-term». Alberto Ramos, Bankinter Portugal’s CEO, further added that «this operation, the first of its kind in Portugal, also reinstates our commitment towards Portugal’s economic development and represents an important contribution for boosting one of its more relevant sectors». Alexandre Fernandes, Head of Asset Management at Sonae Sierra, also has no doubts that «these first acquisitions represent a very important step in terms of our investment strategy».
Sonae Sierra and Bankinter launched ORES Portugal last December, thus replicating in Portugal the «successful vehicle» they operated in Spain, Olimpo Real Estate SOCIMI. At the moment, the plans for the young Portuguese REIT keep moving forward. Alexandre Fernandes assures that «we remain alert to the market, where we have been identifying several real estate assets which gather the necessary conditions to be integrated within this portfolio in the short to mid-term».
