Eastbridge Group's fully-owned unit Cresida Investment Sàrl has acquired a 25% stake in the Belgian listed real estate company Immobel from Jer Partners' Jer Europe Fund III.

Eastbridge Group's fully-owned unit Cresida Investment Sàrl has acquired a 25% stake in the Belgian listed real estate company Immobel from Jer Partners' Jer Europe Fund III.

The investor has bought over 1 million Immobel shares and agreed on a call option for a further 4.85% of the company, exercisable exclusively in October 2013. 'We have been keen observers of the reorganization and turnaround of Immobel over the last few years,' said Ronny Bruckner, founder of Eastbridge, a privately held investment company with operations in Europe and the US.

'We see a strong potential for investment opportunities in the real estate development sector with a special focus on Poland and selected other Central European countries.'

Immobel has been a major player in the Belgian real estate market since 1863, focusing on office space, residential property and land banks. The company is involved in the development of 225,000 m2 of office space and of 210,000 m2 of residential property, either alone or in partnership. Its latest project, Brussels Tower was sold in December 2009 to the Belgian House of Representatives, in Belgium's largest office real estate sale of the past year.

Immobel's chairman Baron Buysse added: 'Eastbridge is a quality shareholder with major financial strength focused on long term investments. Its know-how and expertise of the real estate market in Central and Eastern Europe and the US will allow Immobel to benefit from significant synergies. This new reference shareholder, together with the confidence of its partners, opens new horizons, in Belgium and abroad.'