Retail real estate investor Eurofund Group launches UK arm

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 27, 2021

Investment and real estate development company Eurofund Group has officially launched a UK arm with the appointment of a three-strong team in London.

The company, which has been behind a number of projects in mainland Europe, has appointed a team with strong experience of both the UK and international retail property markets.

The line-up includes UK CEO Alberto Esguevillas, who was formerly Development Director and Country Manager at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

He’s joined by Mike Rhydderch, “bringing more than 25 years’ experience across M&S and capital markets, most recently as a Managing Director of EastDil Secured”. He’s taken the role of Senior Advisor – Corporate Finance. 

And Emma Hindes, an “industry leading professional with 20 years’ experience working for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield on high-profile international assets including Westfield World Trade Center and Westfield London”, is now COO of the new set-up.

The trio are being overseen by Ian Sandford as overall President, who was one of the founding directors of the business, and Ion Saralegui, who’s the wider group’s COO and CEO for Eurofund Investments.

Seventeen-year-old Eurofund’s managed assets have in excess of 1,000 tenants, including key international retailers present in the UK and mainland Europe such as Inditex, Primark, H&M Group, and IKEA. With the launch of Eurofund Retail UK, the company is now active in three markets, also operating as Eurofund Retail Iberia and Eurofund Retail Italy.

So what does this mean for UK retail? Well, the operation “aims to unlock value as the retail industry continues to evolve; keeping pace with the changes presented by the digital economy, embracing the opportunities e-commerce brings for bricks and mortar and enhancing customer experience with a level of emotional engagement that online cannot offer”.

It’s interesting too that alongside its core business, Eurofund owns and operates ‘anti-mall’ concept The Hood. This is a community-focused neighbourhood concept “gathering the best of retail, food, leisure, culture and art”. Its first site opened in Ubbo, Lisbon in 2020 and more sites are to follow. So that could be a key development in Britain as more local authorities seek to encourage  neighbourhood concepts where retail is mixed in with culture and lifestyle.