Norges Bank Investment Management, together with Sonae Sierra, signed last Friday the purchase of the Balkany family shopping centre portfolio in Spain, valued at 1.5 billion euros, according to information from the economic newspaper Expansión.
The portfolio includes 8 shopping centres and more than 250,000 m2 of gross leasable area (GLA), including some flagship assets in the Community of Madrid, such as Gran Plaza 2, Plaza Norte 2, Plaza Río 2, Plaza Moraleja, Plaza Loranca 2, or La Vaguada, where it has 11,300 square metres, while the rest is in the hands of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. This is complemented by Gran Viña 2, in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), and Plaza Mar 2, in Alicante.
Sonae Sierra, for its part, will take over the direct management of the entire portfolio and, independently of this alliance, will acquire 100% of the SCCE firm, the company through which the assets are managed. This operation also includes the integration of a team of more than 130 professionals who currently manage the eight shopping centres in the acquired portfolio, as well as another ten assets owned by third parties. Once the transaction is completed, Sonae Sierra will manage 73 shopping centres in eight countries, reaching a total asset volume under management of 8.5 billion euros.
Valuation:
This news highlights the investor interest in shopping centres in Spain, given the strong operational performance they have demonstrated over the last few years (solid post-Covid recovery), combined with their attractive risk-return balance relative to other real estate assets. In this regard, according to figures from major real estate consulting firms (CBRE, JLL, or Savills), investment in retail was around 1.7 billion euros in H1 2026, with the entire year projected to be one of the strongest in terms of investment levels (over 3 billion euros of investment if we include the Norges operation). Prime yields are between 6% and 6.25% for dominant prime assets.
The news also has a positive cross-reading for Merlin Properties' shopping centre portfolio. It is worth noting that at the end of H1 2026, Merlin's portfolio includes 13 assets and a GLA of 445,725 m2, with an occupancy of 96.9%, a gross yield of 6.6%, and a valuation of 2.151 billion euros. We reiterate our recommendation to Overweight with a Target Price of 17.60 euros/share.
