Iguatemi invests US$ 17.7 million in SP
Valor Econômico
Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers bought a 50.2 thousand square-meter plot in the region of Sorocaba and Votorantim, in the interior of São Paulo, for the construction of a mall intended for the high income class and commercial buildings. The deal involved R$ 30 million (US$ 17.7 million). The new plot is attached to an area already acquired by the company in 2008. Together, the two pieces of land total 95.2 square meters. The plans of the company for the space involve the construction of a mall with 57.6 thousand square meters of Gross Leasable Area (GLA) and four office buildings with 60 thousand square meters of GLA, until 2019.
Iguatemi informed yesterday the new mall center will be built in two phases. The first, with 317 stores and 2,959 parking spots, is scheduled to be inaugurated in September 2013. The second stage should be inaugurated in September 2018 and it will feature another 108 stores. The net operating income expected for the first year of operation of the Mall amounts to R$ 40.4 million (US$ 23.8 million), and the result expected for the full project amounts to R$ 80.3 million (US$ 47.2 million), with an expected real rate of return of 15.2%.
As informed by the company, the total investment for the construction of the Mall is of R$ 383.6 million (US$ 225.7 million) (net of key money). "This new project strengthens the strategy of the company of focusing on the A/B segments, in the Southern and Southeastern regions", informed the company yesterday in a statement. The new mall announced yesterday by Iguatemi will be near, but not annexed to the Esplanada mall. "The malls will complement each other and the center of malls will bring more flow of people, and it will have a greater power of attraction", told the Financial Vice President of Iguatemi, Cristina Betts, to Valor yesterday.
With the new construction, company will have a total portfolio of 18 malls, 12 of them in the State of São Paulo. Earlier this month, the company acquired for R$ 11.8 million (US$ 6.9 million) the 3.4% interest of the mall manager BR Malls in the Esplanada Shopping mall, in Sorocaba. BR Malls is the largest shopping center mall manager of the country in Gross Leasable Area. With the purchase, Iguatemi now holds 33.14% of the undertaking. According to BR Malls, when the transaction was closed on January 4, the asset in Sorocaba was no longer interesting because there was no chance of the company holding relevant participation in the Mall or taking over its direction.
Iguatemi is the third in the ranking of the largest companies in the shopping mall market in the country, considering the Gross Leasable Area. The second largest is Multiplan.