Warsaw- and Johannesburg-listed GTC, the CEE-focused developer and asset manager, has acquired two more office buildings in Budapest for €160 mln.

GTC Ericsson asset

GTC Ericsson Asset

The acquisitions comprise the Ericsson Headquarters and the Siemens Evosoft Headquarters office buildings in the Hungarian capital.

The acquisition is in line with the strategy to position the developer’s portfolio to newer, more modern and green office buildings in the CEE region, GTC said. Both buildings are Leed Gold certified.

Both buildings are located in the southern part of Buda on the Danube riverbank. One of Hungary's most modern office buildings, the Ericsson Headquarters comprises 21,100 m2 of A-class lettable space, across offices, a laboratory, canteen and 500 underground parking spaces. The fully-leased building is home to one of the Swedish company’s largest R&D centres.

The Siemens Evosoft Headquarters office building is Wing’s newest property development project delivered in late 2020. It includes 20,700 m2 of modern space housing research and development functions and is fully leased.

Ariel Ferstman, chief financial officer at GTC said: 'We strive to develop and acquire buildings that meet the highest environmental standards while blending seamlessly into the urban fabric and creating local landmarks.

'The acquisition of the Ericsson Headquarters and the Siemens Evosoft Headquarters will complement and further boost our green office portfolio in CEE. Those two properties with a combined net operating income of €8.9 mln will contribute significantly to our funds from operations generation.

'We aim to finance the acquisition with our own funds combined with bank financing and green bonds issued in late 2020 and early 2021.'

The deal follows the purchase of the Váci Greens D office building last month, and brings GTC's Budapest portfolio to six offices. The other properties are Duna Tower, Center Point I and II, and GTC Metro.

The company is also developing Pillar, which will offer 29,000 m2 of office space, and has already been fully let to ExxonMobile.