Budapest-based Trigranit has appointed Arpad Szekely, Hungaria's ambassador to Russia, to head the firm's EUR 6bn investment programme in Russia. Szekely will assume the post of country director for Trigranit in Russia when his diplomatic assignment ends shortly.
Budapest-based Trigranit has appointed Arpad Szekely, Hungaria's ambassador to Russia, to head the firm's EUR 6bn investment programme in Russia. Szekely will assume the post of country director for Trigranit in Russia when his diplomatic assignment ends shortly.
Trigranit - listed third in PropertyEU's 2008 ranking of European developers - launched its first project in Russia in April. The three-level Mozaica Shopping Center in Moscow will comprise a hypermarket, electronics stores, a nine-screen multiplex and a food court over 64,000 m2 of gross lettable area when it opens to the public in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Trigranit said it has an investment pipeline of EUR 6bn in the Russian real estate sector, underlining its long-term commitment to the Russian market. Trigranit chairman Sandor Demjan said its Russian office needed a dedicated management with deep understanding of the local business and cultural environment. 'Szekely's achievements, outstanding diplomatic and business experience are a value we can rely on. It is my strong belief that under his leadership our Russian operation will be able to fulfil our ambitious plans,' the chairman said.
Trigranit entered the Russian market with Gazprombank-Invest, the real estate arm of Gazprombank, in January 2007 with a EUR 5bn investment plan. In September 2007, the Hungarian company purchased a 50% stake in the Torgoviy Kvartal Group of Companies, with which TriGranit plans to invest another EUR 1bn in Russia.
Together with Gazprombank-Invest, Trigranit is to invest EUR 2bn in the region around the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. The company has also signed an agreement with the city government in St Petersburg for two major development projects. The first involves the development of the Badaevskie commercial and exhibition centre and the second is the transformation of the former tram garage on Vasiliyevky Island into a multifunctional media, hotel, office, entertainment and residential complex.
Trigranit is an integrated real estate investment, development and management company with operations in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Aside from a portfolio of trophy assets, the company has a pipeline of more than EUR 8bn of major mixed-use developments and several public-private partnership (PPP) investments.
