Casino signs partnership with Whitehall to develop shopping centres in Poland

Casino Guichard-Perrachon said it has signed a partnership agreement with Whitehall real estate investment funds, managed by Goldman Sachs, to construct shopping centres in Poland and potentially in other Eastern European countries.

In a statement, the French supermarket group said Whitehall funds will finance 75 pct of the development costs of the joint entity, representing a minimum investment of 500 mln eur over the next five years.

Casino will hold the majority of the voting rights in the entity and should receive between 65 pct and 70 pct of the development margin, the group said.

Casino said its financial contribution 'should be limited to the transfer of outstanding projects to the partnership.'

The group already has 3 projects under construction in Poland, representing 127,000 square metres.

Casino said the business should make a recurrent contribution to its results from 2009 onwards.

Source: forbes.com