Spanish Based intu In Trouble? Multinational Sells The Largest Shopping Centre In Spain For 475 Million

IN 2015 the intu brand went international with their first Spanish acquisition. Now, intu sells Spain’s largest shopping centre for 475 million.

The British multinational, which also owns the Xanadu complex in Madrid, will use the money to reduce debt.

The British real estate group intu has sold the Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza, considered the largest shopping and leisure complex in Spain, to the Italian insurance company Generali for a total of 475 million euros, according to a press release from the company. The British company also has another complex for sale in Asturias and will use the money to reduce debt.

As explained by the British group together with its partner in the centre of Zaragoza, the Canadian pension fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, they have agreed to sell the property, which has a total of 206,000 square metres, including some 110,000 rentable spaces in 203 premises and an influx of some 19 million clients a year.

The buyer is the Generali Shopping Centre fund, the insurance company’s arm for investment in shopping centres, with the German real estate investment fund Union Investment Real Estate.

Intu will pocket 237.7 million euros from the transaction, which it expects to see completed in the first half of 2020. However, after the payment of debts, taxes and other adjustments, the group will have 115 million left over and will be used to further balance out pending debts, as stated by the company.

The operation is part of the British company’s strategy to “strengthen its balance sheet” and reduce debt.

The sale of the intu Asturias shopping centre (Oviedo) is also part of this strategy and is “in advanced stages of negotiation”, according to Matthew Roberts, CEO of intu, who states that “the company’s number one priority is to strengthen the balance sheet, which includes generating liquidity through the sale” of assets. In fact, he points out that thanks to the sale of Puerto Venecia, part of intu Derby (in the UK) and other assets, intu, one of the world’s leading shopping centre owners, has pocketed £479 million (‘558 million) this year.

The intu brand, is famed for offering a high level of digital connectivity, compelling events and world-class service.