In Continental Europe, Grosvenor invests, develops and manages assets in retail, office and industrial. Our focus is the retail sector where we invest in high streets, out of town retail warehouses, shopping galleries and shopping centres. Retail assets represent 85% of our total portfolio. Our main markets are France, Spain and Italy, but we also invest in Belgium. Activity in shopping centres is channelled through Sonae Sierra, of which Grosvenor owns 50%. With a broadly-diversified retail portfolio we intend to remain active in this sector, both as an investor and as a developer. Our aim is to undertake developments in partnership with others.
The office sector is also strategically important to us - primarily in Spain and in France. Office assets represent nearly 10% of total assets under management. In Spain, our strategy is to concentrate effort on our existing development pipeline and to start new development, whereas in France we focus on investments targeting the major French cities: Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille. Our two major assets are Omega Park - an innovative 50,000m² development in Madrid and Colisée III & IV, 23,000m² of “Grade A” office building in the 17th arrondissement in Paris.
In the industrial sector, Grosvenor in Spain has developed ‘Economic Activity Parks’ (Parques de Actividades Empresariales) around Madrid, including Alcalá de Henares, Coslada, Arganda, Torrejon and Pinto, delivering more than 300 units.