CEE-focused real estate investment manager Adventum has made its Romanian market debut by acquiring the Hermes Business Campus in north Bucharest from Belgian property developer Atenor.

Mihai Patrulescu

Mihai Patrulescu

Financial details were not disclosed, but local sources placed the deal at around €140 mln.

Adventum’s first investment in Romania marks the biggest office transaction in Bucharest in 2021 as well as the largest investment of a new real estate player in Romania since 2018.

'The record size of this deal closed by our client, Adventum, is an important sign of trust in the Romanian market, being the largest new entry on the local market in the last three years. Is also a vote of confidence for the office leasing market. Investors are reverting to this segment with confidence and we expect it to be their main point of focus over the next year,' said Mihai Patrulescu, head of investment properties, CBRE Romania, advisors to Adventum.

With a total surface of 75,000 m2, Hermes Business Campus was acquired by Adventum for the Quartum real estate fund, which now has more than 200,000 m2 of leasable area in Poland, Hungary and Romania. The two first buildings HBC 1 and HBC 2 are fully leased to renowned tenants such as DB Schenker, Luxoft, Lavalin, Mondelez, the Dutch Embassy and Xerox and the last HBC 3 building will continue to be fully occupied by Genpact, for at least the next seven years.

The total real estate investment in Romania reached €303.6 mln in the first half of the year, 21% below the level registered on the same period last year, according to the latest data from CBRE Research. During the first six months, seventeen transactions were completed with an average ticket size of €17.8 mln, creating a very dynamic first half of the year.

Bucharest attracted more than half of the investment volume, respectively 67%, in five transactions with office and hotels, while twelve deals representing 33% of the total volume were closed in regional cities, which attracted investors mainly with industrial schemes.

The office sector represented 64% of the transacted total volume in Romania, while the industrial sector accounted for 26%, consolidating the office market as the most preferred type of investment by both domestic and international buyers, according to CBRE.