Ares, Redevco launch €500m Iberian retail JV

The joint venture will invest in shopping centers, retail parks and high street properties in Spain and Portugal with Redevco acting as the local manager of the assets.

Los Angeles-based Ares Management and pan-European real estate investment management company Redevco have launched a €500 million joint venture to invest in value-add and opportunistic Iberian retail.

The joint venture has been formed to invest in shopping centers, retail parks and high street properties in Spain and Portugal. It will be seeded with a combination of assets in the Iberian peninsula from funds managed by Redevco and Ares that have a combined value of approximately €110 million.

Retail specialist Redevco will be the local manager of the joint venture’s assets.

“This is an important step for Redevco building its third-party real estate investment management business,” commented Andrew Vaughan, chief executive of Redevco. “We have highly experienced teams on the ground throughout Europe to maximize the value of our unique retail property platform for investors and retailers alike.”

“Redevco Iberian Ventures will be well-positioned to tap into the significant value-add and opportunistic investment opportunities we have been seeing in this resurgent market,” added Bill Benjamin, partner of the Ares Real Estate Group and head of European real estate.

Ares has already been busy in Europe this year and only last month reached an agreement to acquire a 2.5 million square foot pan-European office portfolio from IVG Institutional Funds. The portfolio of 30 properties is located across six European countries, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Spain, and has been valued at more than €400 million.

Ares’ real estate group is split between real estate equity investing and real estate debt. The equity division manages around $7 billion of assets in the US and Europe.