Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region with Publisher Craig Smith and Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
IFC makes €150 million sustainability-linked investment in Lion’s Head
International Finance Corporation has provided a €150 million investment with sustainability-linked features to Lion’s Head Investments, a commercial property platform in Bulgaria and Romania – a JV between Old Mutual Property and AG Capital.
Lion’s Head is currently in the process of building a new platform in the logistics and light industrial market in Bulgaria and Romania, which will be further supported by IFC’s investment. The company’s logistics assets will be certified with the IFC’s EDGE Advanced green building certification.
“Strengthening logistics infrastructure and connectivity within regional and global value chains remain important objectives for Bulgaria and Romania in the current context,” said Ary Naïm, IFC Manager for Central and South Europe.
“This is a testament to the outstanding credentials of our business, and I am looking forward to further expanding our platform in the region,” commented Christo Iliev, AG Capital’s Founder.
Repaco Capital is developing a retail park near Bucharest
Repaco Capital has started the construction of Crevedia Retail Park which is set to be completed in H2 2024 near Bucharest following an investment of €15 million. The project has a leasable area of 12,000 sqm and has already reached an occupancy rate of 80 percent.
TRepaco Capital and Weststar Real Estate jointly develop the retail park the real estate division of International Alexander Holding. The retail park will host the first Annabella supermarket near Bucharest as well as the first drive-in restaurant in Romania of the fast-food chain Hesburger. Several fashion, beauty and furniture retailers are also part of the tenant mix.
Liviu Arnăutu, Partner and Board Member of GELD Capital Management, owner of Repaco Capital, points out that areas close to Bucharest have a high growth potential for retailers due to increasing consumer demand.
Czech Republic retains a strong investment position
Investment volumes in Central and Eastern Europe fell by around 52 percent to €5.1 billion in 2023, reaching a ten-year low. Higher borrowing costs and the price gap between buyers’ and sellers’ expectations are some of the reasons why transaction volumes are significantly below the 10-year average level of ca. €10 billion.
According to Colliers, 2023 saw investment volumes reach €1.15 billion. The 2023 volume represented the lowest total recorded since 2014. Despite a slowdown of some 32 percent in investment volume, the Czech Republic remained a destination attractive enough to benefit from sufficient investor capital to defend its position as the 2nd most sought-after location within the CEE-6 region.
Omar Sattar, Head of Investment Services at Colliers, says, “Some transactions have already been announced, so the foundations of the investment market for 2024 have already been laid. The recent sale of Olympic Garden by CPIPG to a local investor should positively influence other investors to continue with their investment plans for further capital deployment in the Czech Republic.”
