RARE Alert: Israeli property giant said to be weighing outright purchase of Atrium European Real Estate Limited - part 2

I have a little update on that piece of RARE on Atrium European Real Estate I stumbled across last week.

In case you don't remember, within the story I wrote last week I noted that eastern European shopping mall operator Atrium was looking at other options should the Gazit Globe deal fall over.

Well, according to sources, Atrium is looking at selling its Russian portfolio of shopping centres to a company called Home Credit.

A quick glance at Home Credit tells me it's a lender rather than a shopping mall owner/operator. Still, one source is adamant that Home Credit is the potential purchaser.

I guess since Home Credit is owned by a company that is ultimately controlled by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner anything is possible.

Otherwise, another potential Atrium transaction could be a combination with Finnish property company Citycon, in which Gazit Globe is also a big shareholder.

To be clear, all of the above information is RARE of the RAREST kind. For readers unfamiliar with the RARE disclaimer, the definition is below:

Market gossip that hasn't been tested through formal journalistic channels (public relations executives, bankers etc). The rumour might be total codswallop but then again there may be something in it, so it's worth airing on Betaville.

A spokesperson for Atrium never returned calls for comment.