Invesco Real Estate has paid €200 million for two separate French retail properties: Alpha Park 2, a newly-built 35,000-square-metre retail park in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, and 144 rue de Rivoli, a 6,750-square-metre mixed-use retail and office property in central Paris.

These latest investments are part of Invesco Real Estate’s 2012 strategy to focus on retail. The firm expects retail properties to perform strongly over the long term, and thus is growing its retail portfolio to 20 percent of its total assets under management. The strategy has led the firm to invest €870 million in various retail assets including mixed-use properties, retail warehouses, retail parks and shopping centres during the past 18 months on a pan-European basis.

Paul Joubert, managing director – transactions, Europe, with Invesco Real Estate,