South Africa’s largest listed specialised shopping centre REIT, Hyprop Investments, has agreed to acquire Galleria Burgas, a shopping centre located on Bulgaria’s east coast, for €122.2M before adjustments.
The acquisition aligns with Hyprop’s strategy to increase exposure to Eastern Europe, where the group believes it will generate superior risk-adjusted returns over the medium to long term. The company will leverage Hyprop Europe’s decade-long track record of operating retail properties in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria.
Galleria Burgas is located in Burgas, Bulgaria’s fourth-largest city with around 200,000 inhabitants and another 200,000 in the greater area. The city is a major industrial and tourist centre with one of Bulgaria’s largest ports and serves as a popular summer resort destination. “Burgas registered more than 15 per cent growth in personal income in both 2023 and 2024”, the company noted.
Built in 2012, the centre has a gross leasable area of 36,700sq m and underwent an interior renovation in 2024. The tenant mix includes Inditex brands (Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Bershka), H&M, New Yorker, LPP brands (Reserved, Cropp and House), Deichmann, Sport Vision, Intersport, Terranova, Calliope and Cinema City.
The net purchase price is approximately €53.5M, including estimated working capital adjustments of €4.6M, after taking over €73.3M of senior debt. The acquisition will be funded from available cash resources bolstered by R1.2 billion of capital raised in 2025. Following the transaction, the group’s loan-to-value ratio is expected to increase to 33.5 per cent, remaining below the maximum target of 40 per cent.
