Géant Casino x M&G

Background

During the first Covid- 19 lockdown, the market for grocery property was still active, however with few products on the market. JLL was able to gain an exclusive sales mandate from Casino Group in July 2020 for the sale of a prime hypermarket in Cannes.

Strategy:

JLL undertook a speed marketing process of just 3 weeks, after which 1 offer was received but aborted. The asset was then put back on the market. JLL advised Casino Group that it would be sensible to secure a lease extension and agreed a deal with Casino Group for an extension of the lease duration. The challenge was then to sell the story to M&G Real Estate who were no longer buying retail properties at the time. JLL successfully pitched the properties to M&G by making the following points:
- Resilience post Covid: “Grocery is NOT retail”
- Diversification
- Long leases for their long income fund (ISPIF) who has never been able to buy in France

Finally, 2 funds fought internally for the Cannes asset and we managed to include other assets to serve the other fund.

Results:

Sale of the Cannes asset to M&G Real Estate…
+ 4 others !