Slovenian retailer Mercator Group has sold 10 shopping malls to Austria’s Supernova for €116.6 million.
According to the terms of the contract, Mercator will continue to rent parts of the malls to operate its hypermarkets.
Supernova is to acquire the shopping malls Ajdovščina, Celje, Jesenice, Koper I, Kranj Primskovo, Kranj Savski otok, Ljubljana Šiška, Postojna, Novo mesto, and Slovenj Gradec.
The contract provides Mercator with a 15-year lease agreement for its hypermarkets, with the possibility of extending this for another 15 years under the same conditions.
Debt Reduction
The deal represents the second stage of Mercator’s strategy to sell retail assets with the aim of reducing the group’s debt and facilitating further long-term development, including the construction of a new distribution and logistics centre in Ljubljana.
Last year, the board of Mercator Group announced a new strategy that seeks to considerably lower Mercator’s indebtedness and thus ensure pre-conditions for a new investment cycle, which the company sees as key for its long-term development.
The sale of real estate assets at the company began last year with the sale of the shopping mall in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
At the beginning of this year, Mercator launched an international tender, inviting international investors and investment funds whose principal activity is property management. The project incorporates 17 centres in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
