Timpuri Noi platform for sale again

The Timpuri Noi industrial platform, located around 1 km SE of Piata Unirii (Unirii Square) in central Bucharest, will be put up for sale again by its shareholders, a transaction that could be the deal of the year on the Bucharest land market.

Information on the prospective sale of the platform has been thrown around on the market since the real estate boom, when the platform was valued at around 100 million euros (2,500 euros/square metre), but the owners have yet to reach an agreement.

Shareholders are set to vote in March on whether or not to "authorise the Board of Directors of SC Timpuri Noi SA Bucuresti to sell the property on 165 Splaiul Unirii, 3rd sector, Bucharest (either the entire property or plots of it), held by SC Timpuri Noi SA Bucuresti, for the market price at the time of the sale (but not for less than the amount needed to repay loans due on the 31st of December 2009 and to relocate SC Timpuri Noi SA). "

"Land price in the Timpuri Noi area currently ranges between 800 and 1,000 euros/square metre," say representatives for Colliers International consultancy.

The main shareholders of the company are the Employees Association (73.6%) and SIF Muntenia (21.9%), and the debt of the company that employs 271 amounted to 68 million RON (around 20 million euros) at the end of 2008.