The
company already owns nine malls in Germany, with a value of €4.1bn
and hopes to buy or construct a second shopping mall within Berlin.
It is also in the throes of investing in excess of €100m for the
renovation of its Berlin mall, Gropius Passagen.
The
Paris-based company made the decision to move beyond the French
borders and place their focus on larger malls in the bigger cities,
as the growth in online shopping has affected the smaller centers.
Germany is an expansion opportunity and the company is taking
advantage of the increase in retail sales and rise in wages of the
largest economy in Europe. Unibail currently holds 91% of MDI AG,
based in Essen.
The
group is considering the purchase or construction of centers in the
seven largest German cities, including Cologne, Munich and Hamburg.
This is dependent on locating deals in line with its return on
investment, customer base and size.
Unibail
is considering the sale of the Gera Arcaden mall, located south of
Leipzig, as it does not meet all its criteria. The center was
purchased by MFI during 2011 at a cost of €107m.
The
company owns four of the 10 biggest malls in Germany and manages 18
malls on behalf of clients. Its target for 2015 is to gain market
share from the biggest mall company in Germany, ECE Projektmanagment,
which is controlled by the Otto Family from Hamburg. This will prove
to be a challenge against a formidable competitor.
The
largest development zone in Germany, Hamburg’s HafenCity, is
currently in talks with Unibail to construct a shopping hub with €1bn
as an investment. No comment has been received from Unibail
regarding this matter.
