Hungarian investor Indotek is buying a €267.6m office portfolio in Serbia from Globe Trade Centre (GTC).

GTC said it has agreed to sell its Belgrade office portfolio of 11 buildings within 5 business parks. The €267.6m price is €2m more than the book value as of 31 December 2020.

Dániel Jellinek, founder and CEO of Indotek, said: “Indotek Group has been present in its domestic market for almost 25 years. In the last decade, the company also started to expand outside of Hungary, resulting in Indotek Group being active in 10 countries today.

“We have been looking for the opportunity to enter the Serbian market for a long time, and with the current transaction, we are able to significantly strengthen our position in the region. I am particularly proud that our first transaction in Serbia makes us one of the most dominant participants in the Belgrade office market.”

GTC said the disposal will help re-balance its portfolio towards ”higher-rated countries including Poland and Hungary”.

Yovav Carmi, president of the management board of GTC, said: “The sale of 11 premium class office buildings in Belgrade is a bold move which will allow us to complete our development cycle in Serbia and start a fundamentally different chapter on this market.

“The sale of the Serbian portfolio couldn’t be timelier as we are currently in process of redefining market strategy and advancing our operations to be more sustainable and futureproof. This is benchmark transaction in Belgrade demonstrating liquidity post covid. Selling some of our assets and relocating the free cash flow for the development of brand-new, ambitious projects in Serbia and other markets of CEE is truly an “exit on a strong note”, which will drive us forward.”

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