Hines sets sights on Spain with €39m retail buy in Madrid

International real estate firm Hines has acquired a prime retail asset in Madrid for €39.5 mln, a week after a similar purchase in Barcelona.

Gran Via 44 is a 900 m2 unit opposite Callao Square, currently let to US restaurant chain Five Guys. The vendor was Spanish real estate Group Baraka.

The purchase takes Hines’s outlay in Spain for the year so far to €78 mln, following the acquisition of a 1,200 m2 unit in Barcelona occupied by fashion retailer Desigual for €38.5 mln.

Both properties were acquired for the Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF). The company said it expects to make futher purchases in the Spanish market for the fund in the course of 2016.

Sebastian Huergo, managing director of Hines Spain, said: ‘Spain currently represents an attractive market, with continued economic growth and strong performance of retail sales. Consequently, we are seeing both existing retailers and newcomers committed to making a presence in the country’s major cities.’

HECF is a euro-denominated, Luxembourg-based investment fund set up in 2007. Managed by the Hines group, its aim is to build a large portfolio of commercial real estate across Europe.

 

Source: PropertyEU