American real estate investment group Blackstone has bought two malls in Portugal – the Almada Forum and Forum Montijo – while Espacio Leon in northern Spain has also been purchased by the group.
The news was confirmed on Tuesday (May 12).
Blackstone bought the shopping centres from CG Malls Europe, a fund controlled by Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG – though for now the amounts it paid are being kept under wraps.
A source hinting at the deal last month said the Portuguese malls could have been worth €100 million each – though Blackstone refused to be drawn in on the speculation.
Together, the Almada and Montijo malls have “100,000 square metres of lettable space”.
Blackstone added that the sites will be managed by its European retail platform Multi Corporation, named as “one of Europe’s leading shopping centre developers”.
“These are all high-quality award winning assets originally developed by Multi that we will integrate into our operations in the region. We will use our skills as a leading pan-European operator to further improve their attraction for retailers and local consumers,” said Jaap Blokhuis, the CEO of Multi.
