(PARIS) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has agreed to acquire a prime flagship store occupied by Yves Saint Laurent located in rue St. Honoré, on behalf of its European Core Fund (HECF).
Located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, on the corner of rue St. Honoré and rue de 29 Juillet, the property sits between the Place Vendome and the Louvre. It provides a total area of 795 square meters across three floors. Yves Saint Laurent is completing an extensive internal fit-out and has committed to a long-term lease.
The store had been occupied by the famous concept store Colette since the mid-1990s. Over the years, the area around this location has gained prestige as a sought-after retail location in Paris with strong tourist footfall and a high concentration of luxury brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moschino and Sandro.
Peter Epping, senior managing director and HECF Fund Manager, said: “The Fund has been actively searching for high-street retail opportunities in central Paris. This acquisition is perfectly in-line with our investment criteria and the acquisition is an excellent addition to our existing portfolio of prime high-street retail as well as office assets. The Fund remains committed to acquiring very strong assets that even in this stage of the cycle still have attractive growth potential, and which are located in dynamic retail clusters, characterized by high tourism footfall and strong fundamentals.”
Xavier Musseau, managing director for Hines France, said: "213 Rue Saint Honoré was the home until last year of the influential Parisian boutique Colette and is an iconic address in Paris. The boutique will welcome prestigious brand Yves Saint Laurent at the start of 2019. After the acquisition of the Apple Store on the Champs Elysées, we are very pleased to expand our high-street retail portfolio in the luxury sector with our European Core fund HECF. This off-market deal shows yet again that we can position ourselves to conduct transactions quickly providing surety to the sellers."
The Hines Pan-European Core Fund is an open-ended investment vehicle created in 2006 to acquire and manage assets in best performing European cities. 213 St. Honoré represents HECF’s fourth acquisition in the last 12 months, following new investments in Dublin, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. The portfolio of the Fund, which was 99.6 percent occupied as of end of Q3 2018, comprise 19 assets in 15 European cities in eight different European countries with a current aggregated value close to €1.3bn.
By targeting one of the most dynamic streets in the capital in this sector, where many of the leading brands are established, Hines France has taken its assets under management to over 3 billion euros. This acquisition brings the retail share of the portfolio to 30 percent.
Debt financing was provided at acquisition by Real Estate Finance team of ING Wholesale Banking. The HECF fund was advised in this transaction by legal firm Lacourte Raquin Tatar, Lasaygues as notary, PWC for tax aspects and structuring, Builders Conseil for technical aspects and ARP acted as agents.
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 207 cities in 24 countries. Hines has approximately $116.4 billion of assets under management, including $64 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $52.4 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 109 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,319 properties, totaling over 431 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 527 properties, representing over 224 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include a presence in 55 cities in 13 countries and Hines currently has over €16.7 billion of assets under management in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
