What Roca Invest’s acquisition of two very different retail assets tells us about building a diversified retail real estate portfolio.
When investors talk about diversification, the conversation often moves quickly from one asset class to another.
Retail. Residential. Logistics. Offices.
But diversification can also happen within a single sector.
Roca Invest’s recent acquisition of two properties from Redevco Belgium is a good example. The investor acquired both retail park Ninovita in Ninove and the Inno department store on Steenstraat in Bruges. Avenue advised on both transactions in co-mandate.
Both assets are retail. Beyond that, they could hardly be more different.
One portfolio, two types of retail exposure
Ninovita is an established out-of-town retail park on Albertlaan in Ninove. The approximately 15,000 m² site is fully let to a broad mix of occupiers including Carrefour Hypermarket, Lunch Garden, Krëfel, Sports Direct, e5, MediaMarkt, Leonidas, Auto5 and Shell Express.
The second acquisition sits at almost the opposite end of the retail spectrum. On Steenstraat 11-15 in Bruges, Roca Invest acquired the monumental Inno department store: approximately 4,400 m² of retail space in one of the strongest shopping streets in the city.
One is a multi-tenant out-of-town retail destination. The other is a high-street property in the historic centre of one of Belgium’s most visited cities.
Different locations. Different formats. Different occupier structures. Different market dynamics.
Yet both now contribute to the same portfolio.
Retail is not one investment profile
That distinction matters.
Talking about “retail real estate” as one homogeneous investment category misses much of what happens within the sector.
A supermarket-anchored retail park does not behave in exactly the same way as a prime high-street property. A multi-tenant scheme creates a different type of exposure from a property occupied by one major retailer. And the dynamics affecting an out-of-town location are different from those shaping a city-centre shopping street.
The same applies to the reasons why consumers visit them.
Out-of-town retail often revolves around accessibility, convenience, larger store formats and the ability to combine several purchases in one trip.
Prime high streets operate in a different environment, where location, visibility, urban footfall, tourism and the surrounding brand mix can play a much larger role.
Both are retail. But they are not the same investment.
Diversification can start inside the sector
That creates an interesting portfolio question.
Does an investor who wants to diversify necessarily need to move into another asset class?
Not always.
Combining different retail formats can already create exposure to different locations, tenant structures and consumer missions.
In the case of Roca Invest, Ninovita and Steenstraat illustrate that particularly clearly.
Diversification does not necessarily require abandoning what you know. It can also mean using that knowledge to identify different types of opportunities within the same market.
For Roca Invest, the two transactions fit within a much larger retail portfolio. Following the acquisitions, Expertise estimates the group’s total real estate portfolio at at least €450 million, of which approximately €340 million consists of retail real estate.
That makes the combination particularly interesting: diversification here does not mean stepping away from retail expertise. It means deploying that expertise across different retail formats.
A more nuanced view of retail investment
The transactions also underline a broader point about the Belgian retail investment market.
There is no single “retail market”.
High streets, retail parks, supermarkets, shopping centres and stand-alone stores each have their own dynamics. Even within those categories, location and tenant profile can fundamentally change the investment case.
For investors, that means the question should perhaps not be:
“Do we want more retail?”
But rather:
“Which type of retail exposure does our portfolio need?”
That is a much more precise investment question.
And it is one that becomes increasingly relevant as capital returns to the strongest parts of the retail market.
Looking to build or diversify your retail real estate portfolio?
Avenue advises private investors, family offices and institutional capital on retail investment opportunities across high street, out-of-town and other retail formats.
Talk to our Capital Markets team via hendrik@avenue.eu about the opportunities that fit your portfolio strategy.