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Cenomi Centers sets up fund to complete Qassim mall

2HK6351 Message about discount, fashion blog, modern shopping and cashback, shopping and lifestyle When completed, U Walk Qassim will have capacity for 135 shops Prostock-studio/Alamy via Reuters Connect
When completed, U Walk Qassim will have capacity for 135 shops
  • Cenomi Centers partners with GIB
  • SAR1 billion for real estate fund
  • U Walk mall expected by late 2026

Saudi mall operator Cenomi Centers has partnered with GIB Capital to set up a SAR1 billion ($270 million) real estate development fund that will manage a Cenomi land sale in Qassim and allow a mall project there to go ahead. 

Bahrain’s Gulf International Bank (GIB), the third-largest lender in the country, is almost wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

“The fund will facilitate the Qassim land sale programme and develop the U Walk Qassim mall, which is part of the 1 million square metre mixed-use Tijan scheme located in Buraidah, in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia,” according to a statement released on Tuesday. 

The fund will be a closed-end sharia-compliant fund, with Cenomi Centers as its sole unit holder. 

GIB Capital will act as fund manager to facilitate the sale of land owned by Cenomi Centers and help secure funds to complete Cenomi’s U Walk Qassim mall by late 2026. 

Cenomi Centers is selling the land as part of its sale of SAR2 billion in non-core assets announced in 2022. Cenomi needs about SAR400 million to complete the U Walk Qassim mall, which is projected to bring annual revenue of SAR80 million, the statement said. 

Cenomi Centers, Saudi Arabia’s biggest mall operator, is looking to challenge Dubai for the title of the top retail location in the Gulf, with plans to add five more sites by 2027.

Cenomi Centers is owned by Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Group, which also owns Cenomi Retail, owner of franchises and individual stores. Cenomi Centers has reported record footfall, rising by almost a fifth to 124 million individual mall entrants in 2023.

The company plans to increase gross leasable area by 44 percent by 2027, it said, and currently has three malls under construction – Jawharat Riyadh, Jawharat Jeddah and U Walk Qassim, which will have a 135-store capacity.