British real estate investment fund European Convergence Property Company PLL, whose capitalisation stands at about 7 billion euros, yesterday signed the acquisition contract for the Millennium Business Center office building, the future office of the World Bank in Bucharest.
The British fund managed by Charlemagne Capital, one of the largest investment firms on the London market, is to pay approximately 40 million euros for the building in the centre of Bucharest, located on Armeneasca Street, close to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
The takeover of the Millennium Business Center is the third acquisition by the Brits since the beginning of this year and their expansion plans on the real estate segment do not stop here.
Charlemagne has two more class A office buildings in its portfolio, the PGV Tower where Bancpost is headquartered and Construdava, acquired from Impact.
The sellers are the Greek developers Antonis Kapraras and Euroestate, a company controlled by the Kanellas family, one of the richest and most influential in Greece.
"Our client, Charlemagne Capital was one of the most important players on the real estate market this year and is interested in other projects," said Andrei Diaconescu, the partner in charge of this transaction for Capital Partners, the investment firm that assisted the buyer in this deal. Legal advisor of the British fund was the Bucharest-based office of the Clifford Chance law firm, headed by Daniel Badea.
"Although it is one of the most important real estate transactions this year, which naturally involves a complex contractual structure, negotiations went smoothly, because of the quality of the project and the efforts of the parties involved," stated Dan Borbely, partner and co-ordinator of the Real Estate department of the Tuca, Zbarcea & Asociatii law firm, which assisted the Greek sellers in this deal.
The Greeks' team also included real estate consultancy firm Eurisko. The class A office space project was initially developed by the Greek company Aegek Rom Construct, but was taken over by Antonis Kapraras and Nestor Kanellas, in a deal estimated at 5 million euros about a year ago.
Work on the Millennium Business Center began in 2001, with the developers' plans estimating an investment of approximately 20-26 million euros.
The building's total built surface area is 25,000 square metres, with the net lettable area standing at over 14,000 square metres. The tenants of the building include the World Bank and national grid company Transelectrica.
The Turkish capital company Summa Romania is erecting this building, scheduled for completion this autumn. The class A building will be a 24-level structure, with four underground levels, a ground floor, 18 office floors and a technical floor.
The Millennium Business Center, which is 72 metres tall, will be the tallest steel structured building in Romania.
Surface area per level will vary between 500 and 1,000 square metres. Besides office space, developers have provided commercial space on the first and last level of the building.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
