URW sells stake in shopping centre in Paris for €235 million

Shopping centre specialist Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) announced yesterday that it has sold a 15% stake in Westfield Forum des Halles in the centre of Paris for €235 million, as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce its debt.

Westfield Forum des Halles in Paris. Image: Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

The buyer is CDC Investissement Immobilier, the property asset management subsidiary of long-term French institutional investor Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

Going forward, the asset will be owned by a joint venture between URW (50%), AXA IM Alts acting on behalf of clients (35%) and CDC (15%). URW will continue to manage the asset.

The transaction “marks a strong milestone in the flagship shopping centre investment market, showcasing one of the most attractive and best-performing retail assets in the European market”, URW said in a statement.

The 77,600 sq m underground Forum des Halles is the most visited shopping centre in France, attracting 150,000 visitors a day. 

URW has now completed or secured €1.5 billion of transactions since the start of 2024, which will reduce the group’s proportionate net debt by the same amount.

The group “remains in active discussions on further disposals as part of its deleveraging plan, including through joint ventures with long-term institutional partners that allow URW to retain control of its flagship assets while generating asset and property management fees”, URW said.

As part of a restructuring plan first announced in 2020, URW aims to generate non-rent based annual revenues of €150 million by the end of 2025. In 2022 the group began selling off underperforming assets in California and in Florida in the US.

More recently, last September URW sold its 51% stake in Munich shopping centre Pasing Arcaden to Ingka Centres, part of the Ingka Group, which is the largest Ikea franchisee, for €388 million.

In the same month URW sold office space in the Les Ateliers Gaîté mixed-use complex in the Montparnasse district in Paris, to a joint venture between Swiss Life Asset Managers and Norges Bank Investment Management, the manager of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, for €172.5 million.

In December 2024 URW announced that it had reached an agreement to sell 80% of its Trinity office tower in La Défense to Norges Bank Investment Management for €350 million.


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