Equest Balkan Properties, an Isle of Man registered commercial property investment company focused on South Eastern Europe, has purchased a retail warehouse centre in Romania and a Serbian property portfolio.
Equest Balkan Properties, an Isle of Man registered commercial property investment company focused on South Eastern Europe, has purchased a retail warehouse centre in Romania and a Serbian property portfolio.
EBP's wholly-owned Union Properties has agreed to purchase the Modul Shopping Centir in a transaction valuing the company at EUR 8 mln. Modul owns a retail warehouse centre with gross lettable space of about 6,250 m2 in Targoviste, Romania, 82 km from Bucharest. The centre consists of a Praktiker DIY store set to open in September, while there are advanced negotiations with an electronics retailer to fill the remaining space. EBP said that the net yield on cost once the property is fully let would exceed 8%.
Separately, EBP's Elgin subsidiary has agreed to acquire Star Invest, a company that owns a portfolio of retail and commercial property sites in Belgrade, Serbia with development potential of over 90,000 m2. EBP will make an initial payment of EUR 5 mln for the portfolio and an additional EUR 15 mln once Star Invest secures necessary permits for developing the two key assets of the portfolio. These comprise a Skadarlija Street property with a site area of 14,178 m2 and buildable area of 87,000 m2 to be developed into a mixed-use retail, office and hotel scheme and a much smaller site in Sarejevska Street in the old town of Belgrade to be redeveloped into an office site.
Elgin will pay an additional amount if certain financial targets are met by Star Invest in the next two years, and Star Invest's existing debt of about EUR 17 mln will remain in place as part of the transaction. 'With regards to the staged acquisition of Star Invest, we believe these two prime city centre development projects in Belgrade will provide EBP with the opportunity to create valuable investment stock in the capital of Serbia, at an initial target yield cost in excess of 11% upon completion,' said Petri Karjalainen, managing partner of EBP investment advisor Equest Partners Limited, in a statement.