Immoeast investigates missing payment of EUR 520m

Austrian real estate group Immoeast is investigating a missing payment of EUR 520 mln to a third party, the company said in a statement last week. Immoeast recently provided the funds to Immofinanz Beteiligungs AG (IBAG) through the purchase of a bond.

The funds were transferred to a bank account held by IBAG with Constantia Privatbank, Immoeast said, but added that there are reasons to suspect that the board of IBAG was not 'appropriately informed of the transfer'. Immoeast is now investigating who at Constantia has knowledge of what happened to the money.

'For this reason, an investigation is necessary to determine who at Constantia Privatbank actually controlled the IBAG accounts and how the funds were eventually disposed of,' the company said.

Immoeast and its mother company, Immofinanz, hold no interest in IBAG, Immoeast said. The company is submitting a full report of the facts to the Austrian federal prosecutor.

Immoeast added that Contantia Packaging, the vehicle which owned Constantia Privatbank before the bank was bailed out by Austria's five largest banks, intends to assume and meet IBAG's liabilities and obligations. 'Immoeast will undertake its utmost to protect and enforce its claim against Constantia Packaging and to assess whether such claim against Constantia Packaging is fully sustainable,' the Austrian company said.

Moreover, Immoeast will investigate Constantia Privatbank's liability for damages resulting from these transactions.

Earlier this month Immoeast, the CEE property investment arm of Immofinanz, scrapped EUR 2 bn worth of development pipeline and announced an asset disposal programme in a move aimed at boosting liquidity.