Sonae now controls 90% of Sierra, future of other 10% uncertain
The company announced that is "unclear what will happen" to the 10% of Sierra the group does not control, after increasing the position to 90% in 2021 by buying a further 10% from Grosvenor.
Sonae’s chief financial officer said on Thursday it was “unclear what will happen” to the 10% of Sierra the group does not control, after increasing the position to 90% in 2021 by buying a further 10% from Grosvenor.
“We set up an agreement for Grosvenor a couple of years ago to reduce their stake in the company and for us to buy part of the stake they had, on a progressive basis, and that has been happening. At the moment, we have 90% of the company. It is not clear what will happen to the remaining 10%,” said João Dolores during the presentation of Sonae SGPS’ 2021 results.
Revealing that “Grosvenor has expressed its interest in remaining a partner” of Sonae, the CFO only added: “It is a partner that we value and like very much, we have a solid historical relationship, and therefore it is something that we must discuss with them in the future, but certainly nothing more will happen during this year”.
The executive president (CEO) of Sonae SGPS, Cláudia Azevedo, specified that the most recent purchase of 10% of Sierra happened “at the beginning of last year, in January”, under an agreement with British Grosvenor, under which Sonae had already acquired another 10% in the previous year, for €82.16 million.
“There is a discount against NAV [Net Asset Value], and we had that opportunity and reached an agreement with them,” he said.
“It’s a partner that we like very much, that we like to have in Sierra, and so it was an amicable thing and very discussed,” he added.
He added that “the agreement foresees several tranches of 10%” if the parties reach “an understanding”, but it is inevitable that there will be no new transaction this year regarding the remaining 10%, which would give Sonae control of Sierra’s total capital.
The 50/50 partnership between Sonae and Grosvenor in Sierra dates back to 2005 and began to redraw in 2018 when the Portuguese group acquired, for €255 million, an additional 20% position and now owns 70% of the shopping centre specialist.
In March 2021, Sonae again strengthened its position in Sierra’s capital to 80% after buying, for €82.16 million, a further 10% from Grosvenor Investments.
