Gide Loyrette Nouel and White & Case are among the firms advising on the creation of a €2 billion joint venture that will hold and manage five large shopping centers outside major French cities, in a boost to the country's ailing retail sector.

French-Dutch property developer and manager Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield will hold 45.8% of the new venture, while a consortium including Predica, owned by Crédit Agricole Assurances, and asset management firm La Française will own the remaining 54.2%.

The five centers consist of 320,800 square meters and had 42.5 million visits in 2019, URW said in a statement.

Gide partners Frédéric Nouel, Didier G. Martin and Rémi Tabbagh are advising URW on the transaction and its financing, Gide said in a statement. URW is also being advised on financial aspects by partner Jean-Yves Charriau of Lacourte Raquin Tatar, and by Sandrine Leroy-Demoulins and Guillaume le Guelinel at Ginisty & Associés.

Franck Peter, co-head of the real estate department at White & Case, who is advising Predica and La Française alongside fellow real-estate co-head and partner Brice Engel, told Law.com International that the shopping center model has to be reinvented as retail businesses face further challenges.

He said, "It's no longer enough to put up a center with a hypermarket to drive traffic and then add some shops. The centers that have a bright future are the ones that offer an experience, with more room devoted to restaurants, leisure activities, spaces for children."

The economics of shopping-center ownership have also changed, Peter said, with companies combining into multinational entities that can offer retailers economies of scale. "Say you are H&M, and a large firm like URW has many, many centers to offer," he said. "That is more advantageous for the retailer. Those are the centers that have the best chance of success."

Predica and La Française are being advised by several firms alongside White & Case, including BDGS Associés, which has fielded a team including Youssef Diehane, François Baylon and Louis Fridman, and Allez & Associés, which has fielded a team including Nathalie Filbet and Jennifer Aeschimann.

De Pardieu Brocas Maffei partners Emmanuel Fatôme and Katia Belhiteche advised a banking consortium comprised of BNP Paribas, ING Bank n.v., Natixis and Société Générale, working with Stéphane Carlier from Wargny Katz.