Squarestone Brasil, the Brazilian arm of UK developer Squarestone, has agreed a joint venture with Ancar Ivanhoe for its Golden Square shopping mall in São Bernardo do Campo, greater São Paulo. 

The joint venture agreement means Ancar Ivanhoe will invest £81m in the development project in return for a 73.2% stake in the scheme.

The retail development is now 54% let or under offer, and is due to complete in April 2013.

Ancar Ivanhoe is an association between Ancar, a Brazilian company established in 1972, and Ivanhoe Cambridge, a shopping malls investor which owns more than 80 schemes in North America, Europe and Asia.

Tim Barlow of Squarestone said: “Our construction team will work with Ancar’s leasing and management teams to deliver the highest quality mall in the ABC region.”

Marcos Carvalho, co-chairman of Ancar Ivanhoe, added: “The acquisition represents an excellent opportunity for Ancar and our Canadian partner Ivanhoe Cambridge to grow into a new market. São Bernardo has a highly attractive catchment area demographics and this mall is ideally positioned to capture this.” 

Golden Square will provide 322,900 sq ft of net lettable area across 217 units and a five-screen cinema. The total development size of the scheme will be 1.2m sq ft.

Ancar Ivanhoe has a portfolio of 23 schemes, 13 of which are in the Southeast region.

The deal comes after part of the development collapsed in October 2011 due to problems with the pre-cast concrete frame.