Israeli investor Delek Real Estate has bought a chain of retail properties in Germany from retailer Metro for E243m (£176m).
The sale-and-leaseback transaction comes barely a month after the company and its partners cancelled the SFr3.4bn (£1.5bn) purchase of the retail portfolio of Switzerland's Jelmoli Holdings, blaming the credit crunch.
Delek Real Estate is carrying out the German purchase through its sub-subsidiary Delek Global Real Estate, which is listed on AIM. The company is also seeking a partner to take a 20% stake in the deal.
Delek Global is buying 12 hypermarkets located on the outskirts of towns, mainly in the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt.
Ten of the hypermarkets were formerly owned by Wal-Mart and converted into the Real format. Real is the largest hypermarket group in Germany.
The purchase is being financed by non recourse debt of E230m (£167m) and the rest in cash. The gross rental income is E16.05m (£11.6m) a year.
‘This transaction shows that Delek Global Real Estate can source high-quality deals despite the tough credit environment and difficult global commercial property markets,’ said chief executive Ilik Rosanski.
‘This deal is in accordance with our strategy of locating high quality assets, in good locations, with strong tenants and long leases, financed by fixed rate loans at attractive rates.’
