Real estate investment company Equest Balkan Properties, based in the UK, will invest 100 million euros in the acquisition of office and commercial space on the Romanian market.
"The Romanian market will absorb half of the amount the fund has earmarked for the entire region, approximately 200 million euros. We expect the Romanian real estate market to offer a 9-10% yield for the investments we will make," Ionut Costea, a member of Equest''s Board of Directors said.
Ionut Costea is also the chairman of Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte (Housing Bank), but his position with Equest Balkan is not executive.
Besides the RBL official, the management of Equest Balkan Properties also comprises Lord Anthony St. John of Bletso, the former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, and Robin James. "The funds for the projects in which we will be involved have already been raised from the share issue the company conducted on the London Stock Exchange, which was oversubscribed. We are already engaged in talks and hope to complete our first acquisitions in Romania in about two weeks," Costea said. Equest is targeting office and commercial projects that are either completed or are nearing completion. The first acquisitions are aimed at properties in Bucharest and Iasi.
Equest is already operating on the real estate market in Bulgaria, with the latest project in which it was involved being a major shopping complex, according to Costea. Besides Romania and Bulgaria, the company is also focussing on the real estate markets in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey.
Foreign institutional investors have stormed the real estate market over the last three or four years, with the amounts set aside for their plans being in the range of hundreds of millions of euros. Their main problem is the lack of major projects for the investment segment.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
