Hungarian resi developer Cordia has taken a majority stake in Polish listed peer Polnord effectively gaining control of a 1 million m2 of building rights in the country.
Cordia, part of Futureal Group, acquired 63.7 million shares of the troubled Polish developer for €32 mln, representing a stake of over 65%.
Polnord owns one of the largest land banks in Poland, which allows for the construction of nearly 1 million m2 in residential and usable space.
'Despite its difficult financial situation, Polnord is an attractive investment, partly due to its experience, but mostly because of the vast land bank. Given the current shortage of plots in attractive locations, it is a crucial advantage,' says Tomasz Lapinski, member of the Management Board of Cordia.
'Cordia’s team decided to invest significant part of these assets in Poland, where our company has been executing residential projects under the Cordia brand since 2014. It is a key market for our group. When preparing for the transaction, Cordia has had no opportunity to deeply analyze all the data and information about the company and its projects. Further decisions regarding the cooperation between Cordia and Polnord will be made once our analysis is complete,' adds Gábor Futo, founder and majority shareholder of Cordia.
In November Cordia issued its first bonds on the Budapest stock exchange to finance its expansion plans in CEE. Cordia raised HUF 44.4 bn (€135 mln) in its debut transaction which was heavily oversubscribed by financial institutions. The seven-year bond carries an annual coupon of 4% and reflects an average yield of 3.82%.
Cordia operates in three main markets, i.e. Hungary, Poland and Romania. The company has also recently invested also in the very first pilot project in Spain. Its portfolio of secured plots and projects includes over 4100 units in sales & construction as well as over 5200 units in the land bank.
