Becali sells 10m-euro plot to Portland Trust

Businessman George Becali, financer of the Steaua Bucureşti football team, at the end of last year sold an around 20,000 square-metre plot in Pipera (northern Bucharest) to real estate developer Portland Trust, founded by British businessman Robert Neale, one of Bucharest's leading office developers.

"The transaction is worth around 500-600 euros/square metre," real estate sources told ZF, so the amount pocketed by Becali could exceed 10 million euros.

The plot is located next to the entry to Şoseaua Pipera (Pipera Road), between Turabo Grand Ballroom event centre and Bucharest's Drivers Licence Department, an area where the office segment has seen an extensive development in the past few years.

Portland will allegedly develop a new office project on this plot, after it has in the last ten years developed the Opera Center, Bucharest Business Park and Floreasca Business Park, for which it collected nearly 200 million euros.

George Becali did not wish to comment on the transaction, after admitting recently that he had sold a plot that "can keep Steaua going for about ten years," whilst Robert Neale, founder of Portland Trust, did not provide any information by the time this issue was ready for print.