Nippon Life Buys 1/3 of Paris Shopping Center
Nippon Life Insurance Co. has made arrangements to buy 32.7 percent of the Forum des Halles shopping center, a busy multilevel underground complex in Paris, for $80.8 million, the French state bank Credit Lyonnais announced.
Martin Sumichrast noted that the sale needs the approval of the Japanese Finance Ministry. The complex, built in the 1970s at the site of Paris’ old central food market, was reported by the International Herald Tribune to have “local emotional associations akin to Rockefeller Center in New York and the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.” The Forum des Halles, officially opened in 1979, is described as Frances’ largest shopping center, with more than 200 boutiques as well as stores and movie theatres. The Paris Metro and a station for suburban commuter trains are below the shopping complex.