Decathlon has signed a leaseback deal for the sale of 82 of its stores in Europe with an American publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) called Realty Income. According to CMDsport and other sources, the sale price was €527 million.
The stores are located in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. At least 30 of them are in Spain. “On average,” says Realty Income, “the stores in the portfolio have operated for 18 years and Decathlon has operated in the portfolio countries for more than 20 years.”
Decathlon has traded ownership for leases and will continue to operate the stores. “We are pleased to own high performing assets that Decathlon is committed to for the long term,” says Realty Income. “We hope that this is the first step in a long and mutually beneficial global relationship.”
Decathlon operates 1,751 stores in about 70 countries.
A story we published in December, citing the French press, put the total stores sold at 90.
