Alinma Retail REIT sells Almakan Mall for SAR 50M

Alinma Capital, the manager of Alinma Retail REIT Fund, said that the fund sold Almakan Mall (Tabuk) for SAR 50 million.

The mall was part of the fund’s initial portfolio under the previous fund manager, before management was transferred to Alinma Capital, the fund manager said in a statement to Tadawul.

The acquisition was financed through cash and in-kind consideration represented by fund units amounting to 67% of the acquisition value.

The mall suffered from low occupancy rates following the exit of tenants in 2019 and 2020, compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail sector, the opening of new shopping malls in Tabuk, and the shift toward online shopping.

Alinma Capital said that since its appointment as fund manager on Nov. 30, 2021, it has been studying and assessing available options to maximize returns from all assets owned by the fund.

The options considered for Almakan Mall (Tabuk) included full leasing, improving occupancy, structural modifications to enhance leasing prospects, or selling the asset.

The fund’s board decided to hold a public auction in December 2023, but no bids were submitted. The mall also failed to generate positive income for the fund in 2023 and 2024, while net income stood at around SAR 180,000 in 2025.

The sale of Almakan Mall (Tabuk) is part of the fund manager’s strategy to optimize the real estate portfolio by reducing asset concentration in secondary cities and focusing investments in major cities.

As a result, the fund’s ownership exposure in major cities increased to 74.53% by the end of 2025 from 27.16% in 2021, while net operating income rose 51.8% over the same period, leading to an increase in cash distributions from SAR 0.10 to SAR 0.35 per unit.

The fund manager intends to use the sale proceeds to finance the purchase of the fund’s units in line with its investment strategy, while any surplus may be allocated to asset improvements or partial repayment of credit facilities.

It expects the use of sale proceeds to have a positive impact on Alinma Retail REIT and support higher future cash distributions per unit.