Singapore’s state investor GIC announced that it has partnered with Barzel Properties to acquire nine Carrefour assets in Brazil for 1.2 billion Brazilian real (about $241 million).
The transaction, carried out through a 20-year sale-leaseback contract, involved five distribution centres and four retail stores owned by Carrefour Brazil Group, the Brazilian arm of the Carrefour Group, one of the largest retail chains in the world.
Barzel Properties is a real estate management and development firm that focuses on Class A properties in Brazil. The firm will maintain the revenue stream of the properties through a rental agreement, which will be adjusted annually for inflation.
Carrefour Brasil Group is the largest food retail group in Brazil. In June, it launched a franchise model of convenience stores in the country, aiming to tap its know-how from years of experience in Europe.
“GIC is confident in the portfolio’s long-term potential in Brazil, which is underscored by the stores’ strong operational performance and warehouses’ strategic locations in major logistics markets,” said Lee Kok Sun, Chief Investment Officer of Real Estate at GIC.
The transaction, according to GIC’s head of Americas Real Estate Adam Gallistel, serves as a testament to the Singapore state investor’s confidence in top-tier assets backed by companies with good credit ratings.
“In Brazil, we have been continuously exploring sale-leaseback opportunities underpinned by long-term contracts and companies with solid and growing operations, such as Carrefour Brazil Group,” Gallistel said.
Barzel Properties CEO Nessim Daniel Sarfati also expressed confidence in the potential of the acquired assets, saying the strategic locations and the operational track record of Carrefour Brazil Group will provide a stable and reliable rent income stream.
This is not the first time that GIC has transacted with Carrefour in Brazil. In 2015, an investment vehicle backed by GIC and Brazilian billionaire Abilio Diniz increased its stake in the Brazilian arm of Carrefour from 10% to 12%.
The deal is also not a first for GIC in Brazil. It opened an office in the country in 2014 to focus on investment opportunities in Latin America.
Last year, Barzel Properties, which is a joint venture of GIC and local investors led by former Cyrela executive Nessim Sarfati, agreed to acquire 17 properties from Brazilian retailer GPA for about $234 million.
In 2021, GIC also invested $421 million in a Banco BTG Pactual private equity fund that controls Brazilian fibre optic company V.tal. It also acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Brazilian biological agricultural inputs company Biotrop Solucoes Biologicas.