8 January 2007 11:58
Price Sensitive extraordinary operations

Igd S.p.A. strengthens its position in southern Italy

Igd acquires a shopping mall in Trapani

Igd S.p.A., a company listed on the S.T.A.R. segment of the Italian Stock Exchange active in the retail real estate sector, signed a preliminary agreement with the company Sviluppo Trapani, a non affiliated company, for the purchase of a shopping mall that will be built in Trapani.

The investment, equal to a total of €54.670 million ( €5.467 million of which paid upon the signing of the preliminary agreement), is in line with the business plan presented to the financial community in October 2005.

Following Palermo and Catania, the Trapani acquisition is the third acquisition in just slightly more than a year and further strengthens the Group’s presence in Sicily, one of Italy’s most populated regions.

Work is scheduled to begin in June 2008 while the mall is expected to open in the latter part of 2009.

The shopping centre’s mall will occupy a GLA of approximately 14,409 m2 and include approximately 65 shops and 5 average sized stores.

The centre will also house an Ipercoop Sicilia hypermarket with a sales area of 8,250 m2.

The investment risk is quite low given the lack of competition and the particularly vast potential customer base.

This acquisition is further testimony to Igd’s ability to work even with Coops that are not Group shareholders.

“The acquisition of this mall – Igd’s Managing Director Filippo Carbonari commented – represents an investment with good profitability for Igd and confirms the effectiveness of the development strategy for southern Italy, precisely taking advantage of the best opportunities in the most important cities. This acquisition – Carbonari continued – also allows us to get closer to our 2005-2008 three year investment target of € 810 million”.