Amazon holds no fear for mall landlord issuing IPO

July 9, 2018

One of South America’s most prominent mall landlords is poised to issue an initial public offering this month, while positioning its malls to compete strongly with the likes of Amazon.com and other online retailers.

MallPlaza, a division of Chilean retailer SACI Falabella, says it hopes to raise between $500 million and $750 million by listing roughly 10 to 15 percent of its existing shares, reports Bloomberg.

MallPlaza operates 21 malls across Chile, Colombia and Peru. In Colombia the company is building two more. "Those three are the countries that are supposed to grow the most in South America, and the company’s not exposed to the storms in Argentina and Brazil," said Guillermo Araya, an analyst at Santiago, Chile–based brokerage Renta4, speaking to Bloomberg. "There haven’t been many listings recently, so that also adds to MallPlaza’s attractiveness."

“Those three are the countries that are supposed to grow the most in South America, and the company’s not exposed to the storms in Argentina and Brazil”

MallPlaza has focused on developing nonretail attractions at its centers, including movie theaters and restaurants, to make them even more competitive against online retail, said Paulina Vargas, an analyst at BICE Inversiones, as Bloomberg reports. The company has also introduced such service-provider tenants as health clinics and education centers.

By Edmund Mander

Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT