Two experienced real estate investment managers, advising on the latest deal, describe Son as one of the most active participants in Spain’s need-based retail sector. The Israel-based real estate fund MDSR, which has operated in Spain for nearly ten years and owns a number of shopping centers and hypermarkets, has just acquired a portfolio of 22 supermarkets from AEW Capital Management. Most of the stores, 21 in total, operate under Carrefour.
The portfolio covers roughly 110,000 square meters of gross leasable area. This deal marks another milestone for MDSR, a group now leasing more than 405,000 square meters to food operators across Spain, Italy, and Portugal. About two years ago, the fund purchased ten Carrefour locations in Spain, and it previously completed two similar acquisitions with Carrefour, along with some Eroski hypermarkets and close to 30 Mercadona locations.
Although the exact price was not disclosed, Cinco Días suggests the figure is likely near 120 million euros. This level of investment sits alongside roughly 180 million euros paid in 2022 for a third Carrefour center package and around 100 million euros spent on Mercadona stores in earlier years.
Strategic Location and Market Outlook
The deal underscores robust investor demand for grocery-anchored assets, driven by their resilience and capacity to generate stable rents through varying economic cycles, according to Augusto Lobo, head of Retail Capital Markets in Spain for JLL and one of the advisers to the transaction. He notes that the market’s shortage of large portfolios places a natural cap on deal scale within this highly attractive asset class.
Salvador González, national head of Retail Investment at Savills, the other advisory firm involved in the transaction, emphasizes that the geographic locations of the assets were critical for optimizing returns for both sides of the deal. The emphasis on site quality and proximity to strong consumer bases highlights the value of grocery-anchored portfolios in a volatile market.
Nearly half of the new acquisitions are concentrated in Barcelona and its metropolitan area. The cluster includes six supermarkets totaling 53,000 square meters, with one store in a premier Barcelona district. An additional 21,000 square meters are spread across six more stores in Madrid, with half located in the central district and the remainder in the metropolitan ring. The remaining properties are dispersed across Tarragona, Santiago de Compostela, Vitoria, Castellón, Guadalajara, Jerez, Palencia, and Logroño.
Together, the portfolio strengthens MDSR’s footprint in Western Europe and reinforces its strategy to secure high-traffic locations supported by strong consumer bases. It also mirrors ongoing interest from international buyers in the Spanish grocery sector, seen as a resilient anchor amid market fluctuations. The blend of prime urban sites with well-positioned peripheral assets points to a broader trend toward mixed central and metropolitan shopping networks that can sustain rent stability and long-term value for owners. As the market evolves, observers will watch how these acquisitions influence pricing dynamics and access to favorable financing terms for portfolios of this kind. (Source: Cinco Días)