Who manages the most valuable real estate portfolios in Romania?
Over €8 billion is the cumulated value of the local portfolios managed by the largest real estate investors active on the local market, according to the centralized data of Bucharest Real Estate Club (BREC) and Cushman & Wakefield Echinox for the REAL ESTATE PREMIER LEAGUE Report – the first index of the owners and managers of the largest companies active in Romania.
Alex Morar – CEO of NEPI Rockcastle (with retail investments), Dimitris Raptis – CEO of Globalworth, with investments in office, commercial and logistics, Doron Klein, CEO of AFI Europe Romania, with investments in retail, office and residential, Iulian Dascalu, founder of Iulius Group (retail and offices), Remon Vos, founder of logistics developer CTP, Fulga Dinu, Country Manager Operations Immofinanz, with investments in retail and offices and Jeroen Biermans, Country Manager of logistics developer WDP manage the most valuable real estate portfolios in Romania.
Local investors own the largest office projects under construction. The biggest office projects under construction are owned by local investors One United Properties (One Cotroceni Park I & II – 80,000 sqm) and Iulius Group (Palas Campus Iasi – 60,000 sqm and UBC 0 Timisoara – 32,000 sqm), followed by projects of Atenor (Belgium) – Expo – 48,500 sqm and Portland Trust – J8 Office Park (45,000 sqm).
“We will continue monitoring the market for attractive investment opportunities in the office segment – we are in the privileged position to ample liquidity at our disposal, and the purpose is to invest it wisely,” said Dimitris Raptis, CEO of Globalworth Group, the largest investor in the office market in CEE, for Bucharest Real estate Club. This year, Globalworth will complete the new Globalworth Square building (28,400 sqm), the most innovative and the most technologically advanced office building in the developer’s portfolio.
On the logistics market, the largest projects under construction are owned by foreign investors. CTP, founded by Remon Vos (Czech Republic) is on top of the ranking, with CTPark Bucharest 20-21 (101.800 sqm) and CTPark Bucharest North (40,000 sqm), followed by the Belgian developer WDP, led by Jeroen Biermans with WDP Craiova (58,000 sqm), WDP Park Timisoara (57,000) sqm and WDP Park Stefanesti (50,000 sqm).
The retail sector is also dominated by foreign investments, in projects such as retail parks or extensions of existing shopping centres. The expansion of Colosseum Mall (with 16,500 sqm), owned by Panico Panayi and the new Barlad Value Center retail park (16,300 sqm) developed by Prime Kapital, a company founded by Martin Slabbert, are the largest of the undergoing retail investment projects.
Residential is currently the most active real estate sector in Romania, with several local and international investors at the top of the ranking comprising the largest medium and upper market segment residential compounds currently under construction, with over 3,000 units. According to the data sent by SVN Romania for BREC, One Cotroceni Park (with 868 apartments), Nusco City, owned by the Nusco family (622 apartments), Greenfield Residence (544 apartments), Cortina North (530 apartments), an Eden Capital Development investment and Belvedere Residences – London Partners (482 apartments) are the largest residential projects currently undergoing in the quality segment, in Bucharest and the suburbs.
“We will invest in the development of new residential or mixed projects, with a focus on developments for middle- and upper-income clients, where we see great growth potential. In parallel, we will develop the portfolio of rented properties,” said Victor Capitanu, Co-Founder of One United Properties for Bucharest Real Estate Club.
Investments Keep Going
The Austrian Immofinanz fund focuses on the development of the myhive office brand and the VIVO! And STOP SHOP retail brands, while the Belgian developer Speedwell will launch sales for the new Paltim mixed project in Timisoara this autumn and intends to purchase at least 2 new plots of land annually in Romania for residential or mixed developments, according to the companies officials` statements for BREC PREMIER LEAGUE.
Element Industrial, part of Element Group, has 300,000 sqm of projects in the pipeline for the next three years, both in Bucharest – Buftea logistics hub – and in regional cities such as Ploiesti, Bacau, Pitesti or Braila.
Skanska has started the development of the second phase of the Equilibrium project and continues to invest, while Vastint is preparing the second phase of the Timpuri Noi Square project, with a 100,000 sqm area.
The Austrian fund S IMMO is working on a new boutique office project – Dorobanti Office Building (5,000 sqm), CA IMMO announces the continuation of investments in renovation and refurbishment of the existing buildings and Lion`s Head investment fund prospects the market for new acquisitions. “For 2021, we are tapping new acquisitions on the Romanian market, also taking into consideration new segments,” said Anca Simionescu, Country Manager for Romania of Lion`s Head.
