Factory outlet centers are attractive due to high expected returns in unsaturated markets, but the failure rate is significant.

The traditional shopping center market in the country appears to be becoming saturated and investors are now seeking other “niche” retail formats.

Wereldhave makes a defining move on the Dutch market with the acquisition of nine shopping centers from Klépierre.

Kesko Corporation, the Swedish life insurance company AMF Pensionsförsäkring AB, and the Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company have agreed to set up a joint venture called Ankkurikadun Kiinteistöt Oy with equal shares.

Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV announced that it acquired an additional three assets in Portugal and Spain, which will be managed by its European retail platform, Multi Corporation.

Ikea Group has signed an agreement with Ikano Group to acquire the remaining 51% in Ikano Retail Centers.

Altarea Cogedim has sold four shopping centers to Episo 3, a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners, for €122 million.

Union Investment has signed and sealed a deal for another foreign investment for its retail fund UII Shopping Nr. 1.

Henrike Waldburg, Head of Investment Management Shopping Center at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, tells ACROSS about her most recent coup, the acquisition of the shopping center “Palladium” in Prague and why acquisitions are currently easy to finance.

Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione SIIQ S.p.A. (IGD) has signed a preliminary agreement to purchase from Unicoop Tirreno the mall that will be inside the shopping center currently under construction in Grossetto.

Josip Kardun, Group CEO of Atrium European Real Estate Limited, tells ACROSS about the company’s strategy and why institutional investors are no longer willing to wait to see returns.

Investment Fund Orion Capital Managers have agreed to sell Plenilunio, one the major prime shopping centers in Madrid, to French Company Klépierre. Opened in 2006, the mall is strategi-cally located in the east of the city with no competition.

ING Bank Slaski S.A. and ING Bank N.V. have jointly signed a €193 million term loan facility to refinance senior debt related to the Bonarka City Center shopping mall.

Hannover Leasing has sold a majority stake in the largest urban shopping center in the Czech Republic, the Palladium in Prague. The transaction basis is real estate worth about €570 million. The seller was a holding company for which Hannover Leasing acquired the property and took over asset management. The buyer is Union Investment of Hamburg.

By way of a transaction that closed on February 3, 2015, a new investment vehicle established by Partners Group and its operating partner Northern Horizon Capital has agreed to buy a portfolio comprising the majority of the assets of BPT Optima, an institutional real estate investment vehicle.

TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the Nova Lund shopping center from Uni-bail-Rodamco for €176 million.

Baltic Property Trust Secura A/S, which is currently in voluntary liquidation, has completed the sale of its largest property, Europa shopping center.

Retail parks are currently a hot topic of conversation: The retail format is increasingly the first choice among retailers and consumers and investors are now following suit. GfK retail expert Manuel Jahn explores why retail parks constitute a sustainable investment with genuine substance.

The German firm TLG Immobilien AG has acquired a retail park situated in Berlin-Adlershof (Treptow-Köpenick). The purchase price was €30.825 million. The seller was a property company supervised by Waypoint Real Estate GmbH (WPRE).

Atrium European Real Estate Limited, a leading owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers and retail real estate in Central and Eastern Europe, has announced that, further to its announcement on October 6, 2014, it has completed the acquisition of Focus Mall in Bydgoszcz, Poland, from Aviva Investors for €122 million.

TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) has secured €125 million of new debt financing on behalf of the newly acquired Islazul Shopping Center in Madrid, Spain.

Sierra Fund (a pan-European retail fund in which Sonae Sierra has a stake of 50.1%) and the Retail Property Fund Iberica (RPFI), which is managed by CBRE Global Investors, have sold the La Farga Shopping Center (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona) to Temprano Capital Partners.

Carrefour recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of Dia France. This transaction is in line with Carrefour’s multi-format and multi-channel expansion strategy.

Ewa Szafranska-Madry has been appointed Managing Director at Balmain Asset Management CEE in Warsaw. In her new function, Ewa Szafranska-Madry will be responsible for the development of the company’s property portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.