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Half of Spain’s shopping centers are owned by a small number of players.
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Among the top asset holders are Carrefour, Alcampo, Tomás Olivo, Lar España, Castellana Properties, and URW.
Spain hosts 574 shopping centers and lifestyle parks covering around 16.5 million square meters and housing about 33,480 stores. Although the market is highly fragmented, a handful of large owners control a significant share. Data provided to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA by the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers, which coordinates most centers, shows that 46.9% of Spain’s centers are owned by institutions overseeing four or more malls.
Who are the major mall owners in Spain?
Carrefour
Carrefour stands as the leading force in Spain’s mall landscape. Its property arm, Carrefour Property, manages 109 shopping centers, including 32 centers exceeding 80,000 square meters. Company disclosures indicate a gross leaseable area totaling about 1.7 million square meters. While Carrefour does not publish a public market value for all properties, records filed with the Trade Registry show an asset value around €2.512 billion.
Another pillar is Carmila, a publicly traded real estate company in which Carrefour Property owns 35.5% of the shares. Managed by Sebastián Palacios in Spain, Carmila operates from a center-adjacent hub and runs 79 facilities nationwide, totaling roughly 506,000 square meters with an approximate valuation of €1.418 billion, according to the latest French stock market presentation.
Alcampo
Alcampo has built a dual-leg mall empire through its Alcampo and Ceetrus platforms, the latter owned by the French Mulliez family group alongside brands like Leroy Merlin and Decathlon. AECC data shows Ceetrus owning 32 properties, while Ceetrus itself lists a portfolio of 53 properties. Asset management is handled by Nhood in collaboration with funds such as Morgan Stanley, Pharos Real Estate, Primonial, and CNP.
Castellana Properties
Socimi Castellana Properties, backed by a South African fund, ranks among Spain’s largest mall owners. Its portfolio spans around 16 centers and 350,085 square meters, valued at roughly €1.011 billion as of late 2022. The majority of assets are concentrated in Andalusia and Extremadura, with properties also in Parque Principado (Siero), Vallsur (Valladolid), and several other locations like Ciudad del Transporte (Castellón) and La Vega region centers.
Active management includes centers such as Habaneras (Torrevieja) and Parque Oeste (Alcorcón), with ongoing expansion plans and diversification through related entities and partnerships.
Merlin Properties
Merlin Properties stands out as one of the few investment vehicles rooted in Spain. The portfolio totals about 653,519 square meters across 14 assets in Spain and one in Portugal. The concentration is broad across communities, with key centers in Tres Aguas, X-Madrid, Centro Oeste, Arturo Soria, and Callao 5 in Madrid commanding notable share. Its flagship center is Marineda City in A Coruña, with adjacent properties like Porto Pi, Larios, and Centro Oeste contributing to the mix. By late 2022, around 94.8% of assets were leased, with a value close to €2.195 billion.
Historically, Merlin acquired major assets such as Marineda, while others like Porto Pi and Larios were part of acquisitions by Testa and Metrovacesa as part of shifts in the national real estate landscape.
S Spain
Lar España is another prominent socimi focused on shopping centers, backed by Castellana Properties’ fund structure, which holds a stake in the company. Behind Lar España sits a web of investors including Castellana’s fund exposure in South Africa and a managing group led by Grupo Lar. The portfolio features 14 centers and parks valued at approximately €1.474 billion, though market opinions place stated assets around €368 million with debt adjustments bringing true value closer to €900 million. This implies a substantial discount in market pricing versus asset value.
Lar España’s centers are not predominantly Madrid-based; most are in other cities, including Vigo, Seville, Alicante, and Castile regions, with a presence in places like Rivas and multiple centers across Spain.
Commercial Galleries and Other Players
Tomás Olivo, a major Spanish entrepreneur, appears in this ranking through General de Galerías Comerciales, in which he holds a controlling stake. The portfolio includes nine assets valued at about €2.6 billion at the end of 2021. The centers cover roughly 918,690 square meters of gross leasable area, and there are plans to invest around €500 million to expand three properties and develop a new mall in Madrid called Valdebebas Shopping.
Notable centers include La Cañada in Marbella, Mediterráneo in Almería, Mataró Parc, Gran Plaza in Roquetas de Mar, Las Dunas in San Lúcar de Barrameda, and several others across the Canary and mainland regions. These assets reflect a broad strategy across tourist and regional hubs alike.
URW
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) is a European heavyweight with a solid Spain footprint. Traded on the French market, URW’s Spain portfolio is valued at €3.647 billion, with assets in eight major cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and San Sebastián. Spain accounts for a portion of the company’s €47.694 billion global portfolio, with its Spanish properties totaling around 615,400 square meters. The group lists centers in Madrid, Barcelona, and other large urban areas, with a Madrid-based hub at La Vaguada and additional properties in Parc Sur, Equinoccio, Glòries, Splau, Bonaire, and Garbera.
The rest
Nuveen Real Estate is another international player in Spain, led by Marta Cladera, with centers like Xanadú, Islazul, and Nervión Plaza, and owning half of Style Outlets. Nuveen’s Spanish portfolio reaches about €1,500 million. MDSR Investments, originating in Israel and active since 2015, owns five properties including Connecta Córdoba and Parque Comercial La Dehesa, as well as Mercado de Campanar in Valencia and Parque Comercial Puerta del Ave in Ciudad Real. These funds illustrate the growing diversity of ownership in Spain’s shopping landscape.
Other significant players include regional and national developers focused on acquiring land and developing centers for eventual sale, such as Klepierre’s seven assets in major hubs like Plenilunio, La Gavia, Príncipe Pío in Madrid, Maremagnum in Barcelona, Nueva Condomina in Murcia, Meridian in Tenerife, and Los Prados in Oviedo. Additional entities include Canary Warehouses, Spain SA General Real Estate Society, and Neptune, each contributing to the competitive mix of ownership. Publicly listed groups with mall operations, rail-related assets, and food retail portfolios also participate in shaping Spain’s modern retail geography, including operations under the Vialia brand and Mercasa’s broad network of properties across the country.
Overall, Spain’s mall sector features a mix of deeply entrenched, family-backed owners and large publicly traded property groups that together steer a sizable portion of the country’s retail real estate market. The landscape continues to evolve as funds rotate, centers refresh their tenants, and new developments come online in urban and coastal hubs alike.