The real estate - shopping centres - will be sold and leased back, a tactic widely deployed in the retail industry across the world as a means of monetising real estate.

"It is very important for successful operation and further growth of the Mercator Group to utilise the potential of its real estate," the company said in a press release.

Mercator says it owns "disproportionally more real estate" than European retailers.

The move is in line with the group's medium-term business plan and comes on top of an ongoing programme of disposal of undeveloped land and unneeded properties.

Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate consultancy based in London, was selected as partner in the project.

Mercator yesterday reported EUR 2.17bn in sales revenue for the first nine months of 2011, a 6.7% increase year-on-year. Net profit was down 3.2% to EUR 27m.