SIF Muntenia sold approximately 120 hectares of urban land located in a commune south of Bucharest for 17.5 million euros (62 million RON), approximately 15 euros per square metre.
SIF Muntenia transferred the land through the sale of the Comaico SA company, the actual owner of the land that was held 99% by SIF Muntenia. The buyer was a natural person. The 120 hectares of land are located in the 1 Decembrie commune, and most of the plots are occupied by greenhouses, which are not operational at the moment.
"I cannot say who the buyer is for now. We will probably make the announcement over the next few days. Anyway, it''s an individual," stated Pavel Szel, the chairman of Muntenia Invest, the company that manages SIF Muntenia''s assets.
The sale of the land confirms the increase of the real estate investors'' interest in the southern area of the Capital, after most acquisitions have been made in the northern Bucharest area over the last few years. Prices for the land in southern Bucharest have lately seen higher increases than the prices for the land in the northern area, though remaining lower than the latter.
According to the information published by SIF Muntenia, the payment and the transfer of the property rights over Comaico should be done gradually up until August 2008. The value of this piece of property on the market could go up in the meantime, however.
The sale was done through an auction wherein several potential buyers participated. "I believe we got a good price. I don''t know if the price of the land will go up," Szel stated.
According to the information on the real estate market, the 15 euros per square metre is in line with the current prices on the market, but the buyer will also have to invest in the dismantling of the greenhouses on the respective piece of property.
"I don''t think that whoever bought the company wants to go into the greenhouse business. We have tried to do something about those greenhouses for three or four years now but were hardly successful," Pavel Szel says. He added the greenhouses were not operational and would require additional investments to begin operations.
The Comaico stake is among the most significant stakes held by the company, second only to those held in banks. SIF Muntenia is now at its third significant sale of assets since the beginning of the year, having previously sold over 10% in Sicomed Bucharest and 2% in Biofarm Bucharest.
Following significant sales of stock over the last few years, SIF Muntenia had plenty of spare finances at hand even before the sale of Comaico, with the company''s investments on the monetary market amounting to some 30 million euros.
According to the accounting reports of SIF Muntenia, the stake was registered as worth 17 million RON (4.8 million euros), which means SIF Muntenia could make about 45 million RON (12.7 million euros) profit. The profit will however be registered gradually up until 2008. vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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