ActivumSG offloads three Spanish shopping centres for €140m

Pan-European real estate private equity firm ActivumSG has sold three shopping centres in Spain for €140m.

ActivumSG said the assets located in Barcelona, Caceres and Bilbao were sold by its Iberia Fund I fund to an unnamed buyer.

The portfolio comprises the 388,000sqft SOM Multeispai shopping centre in Barcelona, the 191,000sqft Centro Commercial Ruta de la Plata asset in Caceres, and the 240,000sqft Centro Commercial Zubiarte shopping centre in Bilbao.

Saul Goldstein, CEO and founder of ActivumSG, said: “This is what we love doing at ActivumSG as part of our direct real estate strategy. Using our vertically integrated capabilities and full lifecycle expertise, we turnaround underutilised, high potential assets to create an end-product suitable for core buyers.

“Our local Spanish team deserves massive recognition, both in terms of its ability to identify the potential of these shopping centres and its ability to execute an extensive cap-ex programme to unlock their potential from an asset-management perspective.”

Brian Betel, head of direct asset transactions at ActivumSG, said: “After the acquisitions, we embarked on an intensive yet thoughtful programme of hands-on asset management, involving extensive tenant engagement and targeted capital expenditure. This resulted in the repositioning of each asset to optimise layouts, enhance footfall and create appealing shopping destinations by refining the retail offerings.

“This programme included the provision of new customer access, additional family-oriented areas and the improvement of the internal flow of the assets with new escalators and elevators.” 

Betel said ActivumSG continues to evaluate the Spanish real estate market, seeking out undervalued opportunities particularly in the residential and hospitality sectors, “where there is an under-supply of institutional-grade product as well as high-quality but mispriced retail assets”.

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