American real estate investment group Blackstone is planning to sell at least four retail centres it owns in Portugal and has hired Jones Lang LaSalle to broker the sale, according to a Bloomberg report.
The news service cites “two people with knowledge of the matter” who asked not to be identified because “the information is confidential”.
According to the sources, the New York-based firm will offer for sale Sintra Retail Park, Forum Sintra, Forum Montijo and the Almada Forum, all of which are on the outskirts of Lisbon.
Cristina Arouca, a researcher and director at broker CBRE Group Inc., told Bloomberg the properties may be worth €750 million to €900 million, making it the country’s “biggest ever real estate sale by value in at least a decade.”
So far, representatives for Blackstone and JLL have declined to comment.
According to Bloomberg, “demand for Portuguese real estate is rising because yields are higher there than in countries like the U.K. and Germany. CBRE forecasts investment in commercial property in Portugal may rise to a record of almost €3 billion this year, more than twice the level in 2016.”
As the news service explains, Blackstone began acquiring the malls in 2013, a year before Portugal exited a bailout following the financial crisis, with the purchase of shopping center landlord Multi Corporation. Two years later it bought the Almada Forum and Forum Montijo from a fund managed by Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG, with broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc. estimating the purchase price at €330 million.
