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Bloomberg
Ikea, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, plans to sell about €900 million ($1 billion) of European retail parks surrounding its stores, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Ikea has hired Cushman & Wakefield Inc. to help market the assets, two of the people said.
Josefin Thorell, a spokeswoman for Ikea, confirmed that the company plans to sell 27 European retail parks. She declined to comment on the value or the adviser. A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield declined to comment.
Buyers are investing record amounts in European shops to benefit from the region’s growing economy and rising property values. Shops valued at 69 billion euros changed hands last year, 31 percent more than in 2014, according to data compiled by CBRE Group Inc.
Twelve of the retail parks are in Germany, with the rest scattered across Poland, Sweden, France, Finland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, Thorell said. Ikea will have 25 parks left in Europe after the sale is complete, she said.
The plan is tied to Ikea’s strategy of only keeping properties that allow it to collaborate with nearby tenants and create “inspiring and family-friendly meeting places,” Thorell said.
“We’re selling the Ikea parks that don’t fit that vision” she said.