Globalworth acquires first phase of Green Court Bucharest for €44m

London AIM-listed property Globalworth has acquired the first building of Green Court Bucharest, Skanska's first office project in Romania, for €44 mln.

Green Court Bucharest comprises three office buildings with a total leasable area of 52.000 m2 and has received LEED Gold pre-certification.

The first building has a leasable area of 19,500 m2 and was officially opened at the end of October. The building is now 91% leased and construction firm Skanska said it will be fully leased when the transaction closes in the second quarter of 2015.

Globalworth was founded by Greek billionaire investor-developer Ioannis Papalekas to take advantage of investment opportunities in the SEE and CEE regions. The company, which listed in London in July 2013, is initially focusing on Romania. All nine of its property assets are located in Bucharest.

Dimitris Raptis, deputy CEO and chief investment officer at Globalworth, commented: 'This prestigious newly built A-class office property is strategically located in Bucharest's new central business district. It benefits from top environmental credentials and is let to top-brand tenants on long-term leases. This transaction constitutes an important milestone towards achieving our objective of owning the highest quality portfolio in the Bucharest office market.'

'Romania is a very promising market for investors looking for prime office buildings which offer the best quality and yields that are 150-200 basis points higher than in either Poland or the Czech Republic,' added Adrian Karczewicz, transaction director at Skanska Commercial Development Europe. 'This growing investor interest is reflected both in the numerous offers we had for Green Court Bucharest and the city's property investment volume recorded so far in 2014. According to JLL, 2014's volume stands at a post-2008 high of €809 mln.'