Hammerson has announce that it has exchanged contracts to sell the Villebon 2 retail park to a consortium of French institutional investors for €159m (£116m). Villebon 2 is located in Villebon-sur-Yvette, in the south of Paris region. The park covers 47,500 square metres and was acquired by Hammerson in 2005. Hammerson say that it has 46 tenants, 1,875 parking spaces and is anchored by FNAC, Darty and Toys’R’Us. The gross passing rent is €8.5m (£6.2m) and the centre is 99% occupied. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2016. The sale price is ahead of the 30 June 2015 book value.
The company says it is seeing good investor demand for well-positioned assets in France and that the proceeds will be used to partially finance the recent acquisition of the Irish portfolio, anchored by Dundrum, and completes the first £200m tranche of disposals. The company says that it expect the next tranche of disposals (£300m) to be completed as planned in the course of 2016.
Hammerson sells Villebon 2 for €159m : HMSO