Europar claims to have €100 million to invest in Portuguese real estate

Brazil-based Europar Investimentos & Participações have €100 million to develop real estate projects in Portugal, mainly in the retail market, CEO Marcos Germano Matrowitz told ECO, who describes the company as an “investment hub” and financial services for investors in Europe. Europar arrived in Portugal five years ago and the last investment was the Évora Retail Park. But the list goes on.

“We operate in retail development, more focused on the financial part than on the real estate part,” says Marcos Matrowitz, also emphasizing that Europar is not a traditional investor. If it acquires any asset it is at the request of an investor or to sell it immediately afterwards and generate a return.

That’s what happened with Évora Retail Park. The company acquired this property from M7 Real Estate in September, but has already sold most of it, reveals Marcos Germano Matrowitz. Europar has sold 8,200 square metres of that retail space but is developing another 6,200 square metres, where it will install new shops. “There was potential for there to be an expansion” of that space, he says.

“We’re buying a long-term lease with a strong guarantee,” the company’s CEO explains. “We are looking for a guaranteed income on that investment, with upside potential,” he adds, noting that Europar never stays with assets for long.

For this year, Europar has €100 million to develop projects in the country. “In the Portuguese real estate, things have improved a lot in the last ten years,” the CEO says, anticipating that there will be “a lot of demand by the Brazilian people” due to the current “political uncertainty” in Brazil.

And not even the pandemic has slowed down Europar’s business. “In the first three months the market was very apprehensive, but then it was absurd. There are people from all over the world investing in retail real estate in Portugal,” he says. “The next five years are going to be very good,” Marcos Germano Matrowitz concludes.