Considered to be one the most important landowners, Gigi Becali has recently sold a plot of land located in northern Bucharest for approximately 15 million euros, sources on the market said.
The buyer was the Greek investment fund Global Emerging Property Fund, which intends to develop an extensive commercial project in several stages.
When contacted by ZIARUL FINANCIAR, the owner of the Steaua Bucharest football team, Gigi Becali, said the transaction amounted to 16 million euros and that it covered a five-hectare plot of land in the Baneasa-Pipera area.
The prices of land used for commercial developments, located in the northern area of the capital, range between 200-300 euros per square metre, according to the latest market surveys. Prices have been going up for years, driven by the dwindling supply.
The representatives of the Global Emerging Property Fund (GEPF) did not care to comment on the subject.
Gigi Becali has a number of properties in Bucharest and has recently acquired defence industry assets from the state, namely Uzina Mecanica Dragasani (Dragasani Mechanical Plant).
He holds a stake in Michele Trading Company, European Imobilar Developers, Melody Bar and Avicola Iasi, according to the information available on the market. Becali has also gone into politics, forming his own party, the New Generation Party.
Global Finance, one of the biggest fund managers in the Balkans, tapped into the real estate business with its own investment fund, whose capitalisation stands at 125 million euros. GEPF announced it planned to invest 450 million euros on the markets in the region, and about 270 million euros of this sum in Romania.
GEPF''s investors include international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Austrian investment fund Immoeast, part of Immofinanz.
The fund''s lifespan should stand at ten years, with a yearly profitability rate of 20%.
The list of GEPF''s projects includes class A office space, mall-type commercial developments, big-box retail (separate stores covering large surface areas) and industrial space.
GEPF''s representatives had said as early as last year that they did not rule out a joint venture with Romanian investors, having in mind landowners or institutional investors.
The real estate fund managed by Global Finance may commit as much as 15-70 million euros to a single project.
It plans to turn its branch in Romania into its regional hub.
Global Finance bought the software company TotalSoft, last year, as well as La Fourmi (retail) and sold the stake it held in drug maker Sicomed Bucharest. Global Finance has raised several investment funds for Romania and the Balkan area, where it invested or is investing more than half a billion euros. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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