BR Properties acquires fund with 26 stores from C&A for US$ 280.6 million
Valor Econômico
With strong operation in the market of high standard commercial offices and industrial warehouses, BR Properties stars in the real estate segment for the retail. Yesterday, the company announced the purchase of 100% of the issued shares of Fundo de Investimento Imobiliário Comercial Progressivo II, a real estate investment fund that has interest in four commercial buildings in São Paulo and owns 29 retail stores - 26 of them leased to the clothing retailer C&A (15 anchors stores in malls and 11 stores on streets). The value of the deal amounts to R$ 477 million (US$ 280.6 million).
According to Pedro Daltro, CFO and IRO of BR Properties, the company planned to invest in real estate in the retail since its creation in December 2006. The initial plan of the company was to have 40% in commercial offices, 40% in industrial warehouses in 20% in the retail. "We ended up not investing in the retail because the return was not as attractive as that of offices and warehouses", says Daltro. "That asset, in particular, that was already in the hands of an investor, interested us very much", he adds. With the purchase of shares of the fund, BR Properties has the following portfolio (in gross rentable area): 25.7% in offices, 65.6% in industrial and logistics warehouses and 8.7% in retail stores. For the company, entering the retail means an important synergy with the segment of warehouses, since the retailers need, more and more, of distribution centers where they are expanding.
Only this year, BR Properties invested R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.18 billion) in acquisitions, 18% more than planned. It acquired the old headquarters of Nestlé, a commercial building in Alphaville, warehouses and Ventura, in Rio, in partnership with BTG Pactual - the second largest real estate transaction of the country. In 2009, the purchase of assets totaled R$ 354 million (US$ 208.2 million) and between the creation of the company, at the end of 2006, and the IPO (in March this year), purchases amounted to R$ 600 million (US$ 353 million). With the heating of the market, there are rumors BR Properties would be paying too much for the assets. "We have lost several deals this year because we thought they were expensive", says Daltro. "The market is very fragmented and if an asset is expensive, there are others available", he adds.