Retail Real Estate: GS sees shift to online accelerating, cuts Klepierre and Unibail

Eurocommercial Properties NV

08/06/2020 07:48

** Goldman Sachs says it expects the COVID-19 pandemic to
accelerate the European shopping centre real estate sector's
transition to online
    ** "We believe COVID-19 will accelerate the transition to
online, with a significant impact on physical retail,"  GS says
    ** It forecasts market rents to fall by around 30%, if
retailers are to maintain margins
    ** GS cuts Unibail-Rodamco  URW.AS  and Klepierre  LOIM.PA 
to "sell", saying it sees potential for the share prices to drop
following recent share price moves
    ** The broker keeps the "sell" recommendation on Citycon
 CTY1S.HE , Eurocommercial  SIPFc.AS  and Mercialys  MERY.PA ,
and maintains the "neutral" rating on Hammerson  HMSO.L 
    ** The six shopping centre REITS in GS' coverage might need
to lower net debt by EUR 11 bln ($12.41 billion), according to
the broker
    ** GS expects their dividends to be close to the minimum
legally required, it adds


($1 = 0.8861 euros)

 ((olivier.cherfan@thomsonreuters.com;
zuzanna.szymanska@tr.com))