AEW has acquired the Arena, a central inner-city shopping centre in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from Aberdeen Standard Investments. The acquisition is on behalf of one of its private client funds, Actipierre Europe.
The property is located adjacent to the historic city centre of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and comprises a total lettable area of approx. 8,200 sq m, of which 95% is leased. Occupiers include Albert Hein, H&M and New Yorker, as well as the restaurant La Place. Additionally, the center is situated above one of the main car parks in the historic city center.
The asset was refurbished and modernised in 2015, but also has further potential for active asset management to optimise the property.
Frédérique Weber, country manager for the Netherlands at AEW, said: “The Arena shopping center is strategically positioned in a central location serving the demand from the local community in and visitors of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The asset offers an attractive income profile and a strong tenant mix, as well as opportunities to optimise value through active asset management. This makes this property perfectly aligned to the investment strategy of the Actipierre Europe Fund.”
AEW was advised by Brickstone and Loyens & Loeff and Aberdeen Standard Investments was advised by Cushman & Wakefield and Van Doorne.
These are robust times for the Benelux, where retail performance has shown something of a resurgence over the past 18 months.
Dutch retail sales grew the most in seven months during November, mainly driven by non-food sales, the most recent figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics have shown.
Retail sales rose a working-day adjusted 4.1% year-on-year following a 3.3% increase in October. The pace of growth was the fastest since April, when sales rose 5.8%.
Food sales rose 2.5% and non-food sales increased 3.8%, largely led by increased demand for consumer electronics, shoes and leather goods. Online sales surged nearly 20% in November.
RPA Perspective In November, real estate manager AEW bought a luxury store on behalf of its French retail assets fund.
AEW said it has acquired the fully-let asset on 384 Saint Honoré Street in Paris on behalf of Fondis fund from a private seller. Financial details were undisclosed.
Stéphane Sebban, the fund manager of Fondis for AEW, said: “This acquisition is aligned with Fondis’s strategy of investing in high-quality retail assets in strong high footfall retail locations and demonstrates our team’s ability to source the best opportunities for our clients.
Sebban said this acquisition brings the Fondis fund’s total portfolio to €600m with a remaining investment capacity of €200m, as “we continue to pursue an active pipeline of potential investments”.
