Sol Zakay's European Expansion
Sol Zakay is considered a world-leading expert in Sale & Leaseback deals, having structured billions of pounds of deals over his career. A perfect example of this would be the 2008 joint venture to acquire 12 hypermarkets with the Spanish retailer, Eroski Sociedad Co-operative, for 361 Euros.
Following a similar strategy to his landmark M&S deal in 2001, the properties were purchased and then the Spanish retailer signed 25-year leases on them, which also includes fixed annual rental increases.
The properties are in the Basque region of Spain, near the Pyrenees mountains. The deal itself has been described as Spain’s largest-ever hypermarket sale and leaseback transaction.
At the time, Sol was quoted as saying the deal perfectly matched the company's strategy of securing quality investment in continental Europe, plus fitted Topland’s appetite for robust sale and leaseback transactions.
From Eroski’s perspective, the deal will enable their strategy of unlocking value in its property and investing in its core business. As the development manager of Eroski, Jose Miguel Fernandez Astobiza was quoted as saying; “this has created a long-term war chest for further acquisition in the retail market”.