The group, led by Marta Álvarez, wants to sell the two buildings for 400 million euro, according to El Confidencial.
Javier Catena, in charge of real estate at El Corte Inglés, has already received offers for these shopping centres, but none of them meets the group’s directors’ demands, who want to offer the clients a complete offer based, not only on the product itself, but also on services, a strategy the company has internally defined as the El Corte Inglés Experience.
The Portal de l'Ángel shopping centre does not provide the returns required by the group’s new demands. El Corte Inglés has established the price for this asset, for which it has already received several offers, at 200 million euro. Some of the prospective buyers are seeking to sign a sale&laseback deal, but the company intends to achieve a full sale with the building.
This will be the second time the group sells one of its shopping centres in Barcelona, following the sale of its building at Francesc Macià, located at Avenida Diagonal, for 151 million euro. Mersan Assets Management, which purchased the building in 2019, will invest around 22 million euro in the building’s refurbishment to convert it into an office building.
In terms of the Madrid shopping centre, Corte Inglés is expecting to obtain 170 million euro. The asset is located at Puerta del Sol, near the Plaza Mayor and Gran Vía, and it has, on its rooftop, a restaurant from chef Alberto Chicote. This is not the only building looking to be sold at the Puerta del Sol, the adjacent building, at number 9, owned by Kennedy Wilson, is also on sale, so that both companies agreed to develop a joint operation to sell the two assets together for 300 million euro.
El Corte Inglés is engrossed in a strategy to convert its assets, seeking alternatives to commercial spaces, exploiting rentals to third parties or converting them into outlets and logistic centres.
