Globe Trade Centre will develop residential property in Romania and Hungary together with Deutsche Bank affiliate. Total residential portfolio of GTC reached 8,000 apartments
RREEF Opportunity Funds, a member of the Deutsche Bank Group, will become a minority shareholder of GTC’s special-purpose companies developing the apartment complexes Rose Garden (49.9% share) and Felicity (29.9% share) in Bucharest, and Sasad Resort (49.9% share) in Budapest.
“RREEF Opportunity Funds is responsible for acquiring and managing high yield, opportunistic real estate equity investments on behalf of its clients and currently has more than €3.6bn in assets under management. We believe that cooperation between GTC and one of the largest and strongest banks in the world will create a powerful brand on the residential market in Bucharest and Budapest,” said Hagai Harel, a member of the GTC management board.
Under the joint venture agreement, GTC’s share in the capital will be 50.1%, but it share in the profit may reach 75%, depending on the project’s performance. In addition, similarly to all GTC’s joint venture, it will manage the projects on behalf of all partners and will receive management fee.
Gaining such a well-known and attractive partner is in line with GTC’s strategy, which provides for joint ventures with prominent partners in real estate development in Central and Eastern Europe. Several weeks ago EBRD joined GTC Ukraine as a 10% equity partner.
The joint venture will involve three developments: Rose Garden and Felicity in Bucharest, and Sasad Resort in Budapest.
Rose Garden is a development of eleven modern apartment buildings being built in a popular residential district to the north of Bucharest, with convenient access to the city center. At Rose Garden, 900 apartments and penthouses of various sizes are being built, with a total area of 80,000 sq m, and 3,000 sq m of commercial space. Residents will have available for their use a playground for children, a park with rose gardens, and parking for more than 1,000 cars.
Felicity is a residential complex located in the Baneasa district, on the way from the city center to the Bucharest International Airport, where up to 130,000 sq m of residential space will be develop on a 10-hectare site.
Sasad Resort is a development of low-rise luxury apartment buildings, located in Budapest’s prestigious New Buda, in District XI. 90,000 sq m of high-standard residential space in a green environment will be built. The development will include a tennis court, fitness club, and playground for children. The first phase of the investment has already attracted great interest from buyers: 120 of the planned total of 270 apartments have already been sold.
In all of these investments, the first phase of construction will be completed in 2008.
Globe Trade Centre is benefiting from the residential boom in the region, investing in middle to upper class housing developments in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovakia. The Company is involved in residential projects comprising in total approx. 8,000 apartments, while GTC’s share in this portfolio includes nearly 4,300 units.