Hyprop buys Skopje City Mall stake in a joint venture
Hyprop Investments buys Skopje City Mall in Macedonia through Hystead, a British company co-owned by Hyprop and PDI Investment Holdings.
Hyprop Investments (JSE:HYP) announced yesterday that it had acquired a 60% interest in Skopje City Mall Macedonia, purchased from Balfin Finance BV, Amsterdam in deal worth R1,3 billion (€92 million EUR ).
Skopje City Mall is the dominant mall in the Macedonian capital and the largest in the country. Skopje has a population of about 534,000 people.
The shopping centre specialist, Hyprop acquired the interest through Hystead Limited, a British company co-owned by Hyprop and PDI Investment Holdings, which purchased it from Balfin Finance of Amsterdam.
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The mall has 37,600m² of retail gross lettable area and 131 tenants, including Zara, Terranova, Koton, LC Waikiki, Bershka, New Yorker and Fashion & Friends.
Hyprop owns 60% of Hystead. PDI, a company presented by investor Louis Norval, has the remaining 40%. Hystead now owns three properties in southeastern Europe, having already bought Delta City Podgorica in Montenegro and Delta City Belgrade in Serbia, earlier this year.
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Pieter Prinsloo, Hyprop CEO says that “our objective is to own a high quality shopping centre portfolio in South-Eastern Europe. Macedonia is a small, open economy which has taken great strides to strengthen their economy over the last decade. The World Bank estimates Macedonia’s real GDP growth of 3,3% for 2017."
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“Its occupancy, promising footfall, balanced tenant mix and expansion opportunities ensure that it is an attractive investment. The mall’s current management team will remain to ensure the retention of critical skills. Our expectation is that the investment will enhance Hyprop’s income distributions," he said.
Hyprop is one of about 10 listed property companies which own assets directly in Eastern Europe or have exposure to the region through investments in other property funds.Poland, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have stood out at investment destinations in the region.
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On Monday, Accelerate Property Fund bought nine retail warehouses across Austria and Slovakia.
Hyprop posted double-digit distribution growth for the year to June on the back of consumer spending that supported its property portfolio in SA retail sector.
It declared a total distribution of 619.9c per share for the full year, up 14.2% on the prior year, with the dividend for the six months to June increasing 14.9% to 322.10c per share.
