ING REIM buys €82m Swedish centre in first deal for fund

ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM), has acquired the first asset for its new European Shopping Centre Fund (ESCF).

The company is paying €82 million for Tyresö Centrum in Stockholm, reflecting an initial yield of 6.2 percent, it said today. 

The deal comes two months after ING REIM held a first close for the vehicle which aims to amass up to €1.5 billion of dominant shopping centres across continental Europe.

The Tyresö centre is located in a affluent municipality 19 kilometres south of Stockholm and comprises 28,000 square metres of lettable area. It was refurbished in several stages in 2009 and 2010.

Florencio Beccar, fund manager, said in a statement: “We are pleased with this first acquisition shortly after our successful first closing.” He called Tyresö Centrum a “perfect match” to the investment strategy, being a core dominant centre in a growing catchment area. There could also be opportunity to add value, he said.

He also said: “We have identified several investment opportunities in Western Europe that present a similar profile to Tyresö Centrum and we hope to be able and complete on these by the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter, which coincides with the timing of our second closing.”

Pieter Hendrikse, chief executive of ING REIM Europe, added: “Tyreso is an excellent first investment for this fund which forms a critical element of our strategy to access future rental and capital market growth for our clients.’’

The firm held the first close in December on €60 million from five investors. It is structured as a seven-year, closed-ended fund.

The deal was revealed on the same day as a report by PropertyEU said that Hendrikse would become chief executive officer of ING REIM Europe under new owner, Richard Ellis.

The European part of the new company will remain headquartered in The Hague in the Netherlands, said PropertyEU.