Fernando de Peña, general manager of Mallplaza, reported that the chain has an organic expansion plan for more than 200,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA), although he did not detail the amount of the investment. In Peru, it corresponds to 100,000 square meters for the next 5 years.
This announcement was made in a message to shareholders within the framework of the firm’s ordinary meeting. During the meeting, El Mercurio de Chile details, it was learned that Atocongo, Arequipa, Angamos, Piura, Bellavista, La Marina and Trujillo will be the markets where they will expand with this development plan in the country.
“In addition, it will allow us to have a second Tier A (flagships that contribute the highest proportion of Ebitda to the company) in Peru, Angamos, which is added to our Tier A in Trujillo and which will also be our first Tier A in Lima. ”. Today the firm has 10 of these urban shopping centers in the region (two in Colombia, seven in Chile and one in Peru).
However, he said that growth will be greater in Chile, with a development program of 125,000 square meters. The above “considers the construction of Mallplaza Vespucio Lifestyle, which is part of the master plan for the transformation of this urban center and which is already underway. It is 21,600 square meters of new GLA, with an investment of US$36 million.
In addition, they are considering expansions in Mallplaza Trébol, Mallplaza Oeste, Mallplaza Norte, Mallplaza Antofagasta, Mallplaza La Serena, Mallplaza Iquique and Mallplaza Biobío.
Mallplaza and the Open Plaza business in Peru
Fernando de Peña indicated that, in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the recent agreement for the purchase of 11 Open Plaza in Peru and the parent company’s participation in Mall Plaza Perú (Falabella controls 100% of the operations of Open Plaza Perú and 66.6% in Mall Plaza Perú), which has four malls, “we are not only adding new GLA.”
He specified that, if “we take Plaza’s Ebitda to 2023, we go from US$367 million to US$448 million when consolidating Peru, an increase of more than 20%.”
The transaction is valued at US$848 million. “Having the entire real estate operation in Peru under one operation allows us to achieve synergies by merging two companies and their structures, as well as allowing us to achieve more efficiencies with a greater scale,” said De Peña.
“It means increasing the portfolio by approximately 619,000 leasable m2, and having shopping centers with land and development potential, adding US$ 81 million of Ebitda to Plaza SA, corresponding to the year 2023. These are assets that are in very good locations in the cities they are in and we see great growth potential,” added the company’s president, Sergio Cardone.
Mallplaza will have the largest leasable space in Peru
With this transaction, Mallplaza will position itself as the largest GLA operator in South America and second in Peru, reaching a total of 2.3 million m2 in the region.
“In addition, the agreement allows us to further diversify the company. In terms of Ebitda, Chile would go from 90% weight to 75%, and Peru would have almost 20% of Plaza SA’s Ebitda,” he added.
He recalled that, being a business between related parties, the firm took precautions. Thus, it was essential “to have counted on the issuance of fairness opinions delivered by international advisors.” If applicable, the board of directors mandated JP Morgan Securities LLC for such purposes.
Source: Larepublica
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