The investment fund Accession Fund is negotiating the acquisition of the Dorobanti 239 office building. The building is currently home to Romania''s largest company, Petrom.
The value of the deal could reach 20 million euros, real estate market sources say.
When contacted by Ziarul Financiar, the representatives of GLL Partners, which manages Accession Fund, and the developer, TriNation Management and Development, declined to comment.
Dorobanti 239 was the subject of a clash between a number of important investors early this year who were battling to gain the best possible position on the Bucharest real estate market.
The sellers had a list of bidders at that time, but chose to postpone the sale, the sources say.
The owner of the building is Dorobanti 239 Imobiliare, and its developer, TriNation Management, is part of the group controlled by businessman Gabriel Popoviciu.
Accession Fund has announced it has up to 250 million euros ready to invest on the Romanian and Bulgarian markets. It is preparing a number of transactions in Romania at the moment, the first of which is most likely to be Dorobanti 239. The fund is interested in logistics parks and retail and office developments.
This fund''s investors include the Italian giant of the European insurance market, Assicurazioni Generali, which is present in Romania through Generali Asigurari, EBRD and some German pension funds. Generali contributed 40% to the fund. Dorobanti 239 is a class A office building, which involved 10 million euros of investments, the developer says. Construction began in the autumn of 2003 and was completed this year. The building covers approximately 11,000 square metres, of which 7,000 are used for office space. Dorobanti 239''s largest tenant is Petrom, which signed a five-year lease for 5,000 square metres last year. The contract is worth around 6 million euros.
According to information on the market, Dorobanti 239''s annual yield is less than 10%, confirming the trend among Romanian yields to approach levels in neighbouring countries.
By comparison, buildings like Opera Center or Europe House, which were sold in 2003, yielded investors some 12.5%.
The extremely high demand on the domestic market means that all important class A office developments are heavily sought after by foreign investors, most of which are sold within a very short time after opening.
Buildings that have not yet been sold, such as the Charles de Gaulle Plaza (the Connex headquarters) or Bucharest Business Park (currently under construction near Casa Presei Libere) are now being fought over by investors.
The sale of major class A buildings on the Romanian market began early in 2003, after the Opera House was acquired by Austrian investment fund CA Immo.
In the meantime, CA Immo has acquired half of the Charles de Gaulle Plaza development and the Opera Center and Europe House developers are already at work on other projects.
Portland Trust, the developer of Opera Center, is due to complete Bucharest Business Park this year. This office complex already reached 50% occupancy as early as last year, according to the local office of real estate company Colliers International.
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