Grosvenor To Invest $378M in French Retail

PARIS-UK investment and fund management group Grosvenor has won approval to launch its first French institutional OPCI property fund from financial market supervisory authority AMF. It is planning to invest $378 million in 2010 and is mainly looking for town center or retail park assets through direct acquisitions or sale-and-leaseback operations.

Steve Cowen, investment director for continental Europe, said the Grosvenor Retail Invest France open-end fund will extend its strategy of targeted investments in French retail. Strategy in continental Europe is focused on a directly-managed proprietary portfolio, its stake in Portuguese shopping center specialist Sonae Sierra, and its fund management business. France is a core market for the group, and after setting up its first continental Europe fund, Grosvenor Retail European Properties in 2004, it established the dedicated Grosvenor French Retail Investments in 2006.