Immofinanz has sold a portfolio of 35 residential properties in the Austrian state of Carinthia ahead of the planned IPO of its Buwog residential unit.
Immofinanz has sold a portfolio of 35 residential properties in the Austrian state of Carinthia ahead of the planned IPO of its Buwog residential unit.
Vienna-listed Immofinanz plans to sell more low-yielding Austrian homes held by its Buwog subsidiary and re-invest the proceeds to buy up to 10,000 residential units in Germany.
The next step would be to IPO about half of Buwog to raise a target of €700-750 mln, CEO Eduard Zehetner said this week. The listing could take place as early as November.
Over time Immofinanz will probably dispose of Buwog entirely to become a pure commercial real estate developer-owner, Zehetner said. But he stressed Immofinanz would not be under time pressure to exit Buwog.
Buwog is one of the largest private residential property companies in Austria with more than 32,000 rental and condominium apartments, including 2,300 in Germany. The company develops and builds 500 to 700 apartments each year in Vienna and Berlin.
On Tuesday, Immofinanz announced that Buwog had sold 35 properties with a total of 781 apartments in Carinthia to ÖSW Group, the largest private non-profit development company in Austria. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed but Immofinanz said the price exceeded the carrying amount.
Seven of these properties were owned directly by Buwog and 28 by ESG, an affiliate managed by Buwog.
'The sale of portfolios in Austria is generating the liquid funds required for our expansion in the promising German residential market, for example in Berlin,' said Daniel Riedl, COO of Immofinanz and chairman of Buwog's supervisory board. 'The profitable sale of part of our Carinthian properties represents a milestone toward an initial public offering by Buwog and also confirms our conservative real estate valuation,' he said.
