Greater funding offer reactivates construction of shopping malls
Valor Econômico
The bigger appetite of the investors and the greater offer of financing alternatives are reactivating the shopping mall industry in Brazil, which depends on the raising of funds to pay for the construction of new commercial shopping malls.
The undertakings require high investments ranging from R$ 100 million (US$ 58.1 million) to more than R$ 300 million (US$ 174.4 million). Sonae Sierra Brasil, the sixth biggest chain of shopping malls in the country, rules out going public, but assesses the sale of real estate fund shares from their most mature undertakings and in which they hold 100% of interest, says the President of the company João Pessoa Jorge.
That is the case of Shopping Parque D. Pedro, in Campinas (SP). Sonae Sierra Brasil is preparing the secondary distribution of the shares of a real estate fund in whose undertaking it holds 12% of interest. Besides Shopping D. Pedro, the company also holds 100% of the capital of the Boa Vista shopping mall, in São Paulo, and, more recently, of Shopping Metrópole, located in São Bernardo do Campo (SP). The company is analyzing the possibility of selling the shares in those undertakings.
The acquisition of the entirety of the capital of Metrópole was ended this week. Sonae Sierra Brasil had 83% of shopping and it purchased the 17% remaining that was still held by the pension fund Aerus, a pension fund formed mostly by former employees of Varig. According to George, with the leaving of Aerus, the company will be able to make investments in the São Bernardo shopping mall that is outdated and requires improvements. R$ 52 million (US$ 30.2 million) will be invested in the renovation of the commercial center.
Besides that project, Sonae Sierra has total investments of R$ 670 million (US$ 389.5 million) planned in three new shopping malls in Goiania (GO), Londrina (PR) and Uberlândia (MG). Shopping Parque D. Pedro will also undergo a R$ 23 million (US$ 13.4 million) improvement.