China Investment Corporation, the giant sovereign wealth fund, is said to be close to making its first major investment in French real estate with a €1.3bn winning bid for 10 shopping malls being sold by CBRE Global Investors, say local media.
The $653 billion Chinese sovereign wealth fund is reported by Paris’ Le Figaro to have outbid French commercial property company Unibail-Rodamco and Dutch real estate investment firm, Weredlhave for the portfolio of 10 shopping centres in France and Belgium.
CIC’s French investment is the latest purchase of European property assets by a Chinese sovereign fund, following a previous $1.24 billion London acquisition by CIC, and a series of deals in the UK and on the European continent by Gingko Tree Investment, which manages China’s foreign reserve fund.
CBRE Global Investors, which had been ING Real Estate from the Netherlands before being acquired by CBRE, is selling off the set of shopping centres because the fund that holds the assets is due to mature this year and needs to pay out its investors.
The 10 malls include La Vache Noire, in the suburbs of Paris, Mayol in the city of Toulon, and two malls in Belgium, among other assets.
