IMMOFINANZ AG is ramping up its strategic withdrawal from noncore businesses after it sold a retail portfolio in Austria to a local real estate investor.

CEO Oliver Schumy said the sale builds on the company's retail portfolio optimization, in order to allow the company to concentrate on STOP SHOP retail parks and VIVO! shopping centers.

IMMOFINANZ expects the rental income reduction from the sale to be "almost entirely" offset by the company's acquisition of eight STOP SHOP retail parks in Hungary and Slovakia.

The purchaser and price tag of the sale were not disclosed, and the transaction is scheduled to be completed in phases from now until the end of 2017. The portfolio comprises 88 properties in eight Austrian provinces, covering 108,000 square meters of rentable space. Schumy noted that the portfolio's assets were tailored to the needs of a single major tenant.