The portfolio comprises 8 shopping centres and over 250,000 m² of gross lettable area, including several landmark assets in the Community of Madrid, where it accounts for 11,300 square metres, whilst the remainder is owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
By Renta 4
Norges Bank Investment Management, together with Sonae Sierra, signed an agreement last Friday to purchase the portfolio of shopping centres owned by the Balkany family in Spain, valued at €1.5 billion, according to information from the business newspaper Expansión.
The portfolio comprises 8 shopping centres and over 250,000 m² of gross lettable area (GLA), including several landmark assets in the Community of Madrid, such as Gran Plaza 2, Plaza Norte 2, Plaza Río 2, Plaza Moraleja, Plaza Loranca 2 and La Vaguada, where it holds 11,300 square metres, whilst the remainder is owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. Added to these are Gran Vía 2, in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), and Plaza Mar 2, in Alicante.
Sonae Sierra, for its part, will take over the direct management of the entire portfolio and, independently of this alliance, will acquire 100 per cent of SCCE, the company through which the assets are managed.
This transaction thus includes the integration of a team of more than 130 professionals who currently manage the eight shopping centres in the acquired portfolio, as well as a further ten assets owned by third parties. Once the transaction is complete, Sonae Sierra will manage 73 shopping centres across eight countries, reaching a total volume of assets under management of €8.5 billion.
Assessment:
This news highlights investor interest in shopping centres in Spain, given the strong operational performance they have demonstrated over recent financial years (a solid post-Covid recovery), coupled with their attractive risk-return profile relative to other property assets.
In this regard, according to figures from the leading property consultancies (CBRE, JLL and Savills) investment in retail stood at around €1.7 billion as at H1 2026, with the full year projected to be one of the strongest in terms of investment levels (exceeding €3 billion in investment if we include the Norges transaction). Prime yields stand at between 6% and 6.25% for leading prime assets.
The news also has positive implications for Merlin Properties’ portfolio of shopping centres. It should be noted that at the end of 1H26,Merlin’s portfolio comprised 13 assets with a gross leasable area (GLA) of 445,725 m², an occupancy rate of 96.9 per cent, a gross yield of 6.6 per cent and a valuation of €2.151 billion. We reiterate our ‘Overweight’ recommendation with a target price of €17.60 per share.
