French group Auchan buys 12 shopping centers that host its stores in Romania

French retail group Auchan, one of the largest retailers in Romania, reached an agreement to buy a real estate portfolio made of 12 hypermarkets and commercial galleries in Bucharest, Timisoara and other eight cities in Romania, where its stores are located. The value of the transaction is estimated at some EUR 280 million, according to Ziarul Financiar. These are all shopping centers where former Real hypermarkets were located. Last year, Auchan bought the Real business in Romania from German group Metro, which includes 20 hypermarkets of the 24 that Real had in the country. Real also owned the locations for four of the hypermarkets it sold to Auchan. Auchan now plans to buy some other 12 locations. The total area of these properties is about 200,000 sqm and the tenants of these shopping centers generate EUR 400 to 500 million in sales each year. The rental revenues are about EUR 30 million, according to Ziarul Financiar. Auchan’s business model is to own the locations where it has hypermarkets. Two of the projects are in Bucharest, two in Timisoara, and the others in Satu Mare, Oradea, Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Constanta and Galati. The shopping center in Pitesti, which Auchan will buy from local company Rolast, was valued at EUR 18.36 million, according to a valuation report made by real-estate consultancy firm DTZ Equinox. The annual rents generated by the tenants of this shopping center, including Auchan, is about EUR 2.2 million. Auchan has a network of 31 hypermarkets in Romania and total sales of more than EUR 1 billion per year. editor@romania-insider.com