NPS acquires further stake in Paris shopping centre

O'Parinor Shopping Centre

The National Pension Service of Korea (NPS) has purchased an additional stake in a nearly one million-square-foot shopping centre on the outskirts of Paris for a reported €106 million.

PERE understands that Hammerson sold a 24 percent interest in the O'Parinor Shopping Centre in Aulnay-sous-Bois to NPS via Rockspring Property Investment Managers. The European real estate investment firm declined to disclose the sale price of the additional stake or confirm NPS as the client.

Robert Gilchrist, chief executive of Rockspring, said: “We are pleased to conclude the planned second phase of our client’s acquisition of this key super-regional shopping centre. The various initiatives and plans that we have developed with Hammerson since the initial purchase last year provide an exciting foundation for further enhancing the tenant mix and the attraction of the centre to shoppers.”

Last year, Hammerson sold a 51 percent stake in O'Parinor to Rockspring on behalf of NPS in a deal valued at €217 million. The additional purchase raises the Korean pension's ownership stake in the centre to 75 percent. Hammerson will retain the residual ownership and manage centre.

Held in co-ownership with Carrefour and Redevco, O’Parinor originally was acquired by Hammerson in 2002. The UK REIT completed a 258,333-square-foot extension and development in 2008, taking the total size of the centre to 968,751 square feet. It plans additional renovations to the original mall, which is anchored by Carrefour, H&M, C&A, Darty and Planet Saturn.