Sonae Sierra sells two malls in the Algarve to a Square fund

  • ECO News
  • 29 January 2018

The Portuguese retailer sold Albufeira Shopping and the Continente Mall in Portimão to a fund managed by Square AM. In the meanwhile, it will continue being in charge with both their management.

The fund managed by the Portuguese Sonae Sierra has recently made an agreement with the manager Square to sell two malls in the Algarve region. The fund CA Património Crescente will own both of the assets from the retailer company, but that Sonae will continue being responsible for managing both of them. This is not the first time Sonae Sierra closes agreements to sell its malls.

The Sierra Portugal Fund, managed by Sonae Sierra, will sell Albufeira Shopping and the Continente Mall in Portimão to CA Património Crescende, a fund managed by Square Asset Management. Even so, both assets will continue being controlled by the Portuguese retailer. “It is with great pleasure that we announce the deal has been concluded, reflecting our ability to implement a pro-active management strategy to our real estate assets and confirming the market’s acknowledgement of their quality”, the CEO of Sonae Sierra, Fernando Guedes de Oliveira, stated.

As for the CEO of Square AM, Pedro Coelho, he explains, in a press release, that “these acquisitions fit the strategy of diversifying the fund’s exposure, balancing out, therefore, its composition among the different kind of assets”.

The Albufeira Shopping was inaugurated in 1989, the first mall to be managed by the Portuguese retailer in national territory. Currently, it had 42 stores, distributed for 11,577 square meters. The Continente Mall in Portimão is a little larger: it has 59 stores spread throughout 13,692 square meters.

Recently, Sonae Sierra sold Maia Shopping and Guimarães Shopping to the insurance company Ocidental, in an operation that was confirmed by the Competition Authority (AdC), which stated they were analyzing the business because it was a “company merger operation”.