In what could turn out to be one of the larger real estate transactions in Central Europe this year, over 15 submissions have been made for nine stores in Romania and five in Slovakia.

The guide price for the portfolio is €200 mln.

Metro’s real estate arm, Metro Properties, is leasing back the wholesale food outlets totalling around 200,000 m2 for a term of 12 years.

It is believed the package has gained interest from German institutional money among other parties.

Düsseldorf-headquartered Metro was the first international retailer to enter the Romanian market following the revolution in 1989. It currently owns a total of 30 stores in the country according to a group fact sheet, and six in Slovakia.

Overall, the German wholesaler operates around 680 stores in 24 countries across Europe and Asia. Although the business was inevitably affected by Covid-19 restrictions in Q1 2020, it recovered rapidly. Its latest set of financial figures say the company made an annual profit for 2019/2020 of over €1 bn, and at its annual general meeting in February this year, the group said it was pursuing a 'new growth phase'.

Metro sale leasebacks
This will be not the first time Metro has entered into a European sale-and-leaseback deal.

As reported by PropertyEU, in 2019 Metro Properties sold and leased back a mixture of Metro and Makro stores in the CEE region. The portfolio comprised 11 assets in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and was acquired by FLE Vienna, a subsidiary of French investor, LFPI Group.

Colliers International advised the firm on the sale-and-leaseback transactions in all countries. The total volume of the sale exceeded €250 mln.

Furthermore, in 2018, it sold and leased back a portfolio of Makro stores in Spain on 15-year terms to LaSalle Investment Management’s Encore+ fund. At the time, LaSalle said it strongly believed in the future of the three urban locations of the Makro cash and carry properties were in, noting there was long term upside potential due to several large-scale development projects in the neighbouring areas.

Though Covid-19 has been a testing time for most retailers, Metro Properties has been able to forward plans for ‘Metro Campus’, the urbanisation project for a 9.2-hectare site in the northern part of Dusseldorf where its headquarters are located.

The ambition is to combine living, working, leisure and trade in one neighbourhood. The campus will provide sustainable housing and working spaces. The district will have the international headquarters of Metro AG at its centre and will be predominantly car-free.