The exclusive residential developer extends its portfolio of office space

One United Properties concentrated on the exclusive properties, buys with 16.8 million euros without VAT the North Gate office project in Pipera area, whose tenant is Renault Technologie Roumanie, the largest engineering center of Renault car company outside France, according to information available for the transaction log MIRSANU.RO.

One United Properties has won today the auction organized for the forced sale of the North Gate project, developed by Creativ Invest Group.

Victor Capitanu, one of the two co-owners of One United Properties, confirmed the acquisition of North Gate offices.

“The funding for the acquisition will be partly covered by own funds, partly from bank financing. We believe it is one of the best office buildings in Pipera area", Victor Capitanu specified.

The North Gate office project was erected in the northern area of Bucharest by a real estate developer, controlled by businessman Marius Ivan and an associate of his. Marius Ivan entered as an investor in the real estate market after making two major exits - in 2005 he sold his 40% stake in Dufa manufacturer of paints and varnishes (now Deutek) to the US investment fund Advent International as part of a deal totaling 18 million euros, and then sold its stake to Henkel Bautechnik Romania's construction materials manufacturer for about 13 million euros.

For North Gate, Creative Invest Group real estate developer attracted a € 48 million grant on July 25, 2008 from Westdeutsche Immobilien Bank AG.

Later, the developer was unable to repay the debts and the project reached the enforcement stage.

In the spring of this year, the North Gate project was put up for sale for 22.4 million euros without VAT, but no potential buyer has presented, so the sale auction resumed. One United Properties was the only investor who has today expressed interest in acquiring the office project.

North Gate has a total area of 25,891 square meters, a built area of 35,000 square meters, including the underground car parking and an adjacent land of 12,000 square meters.

The project bought by One United Properties has about 500 parking spaces, half the basement, and the rest of the exterior.
The buyer is One Office Properties, a subsidiary of One United Properties.

The real estate complex includes two office buildings rented in full by Renault Technologie Roumanie, a subsidiary of Renault's French car company.

Rents in the northern Pipera are on average at 10-12 euros per square meter, according to a report by JLL Romania, the real estate consultancy company.

Investment returns on the Bucharest office market are around 7.5%, which is equivalent to a return on rental investment in about 13 years, i.e. in a shorter period than investments in other regional destinations, under the circumstances when Warsaw has a yield of 5.25%, Budapest 6%, and Prague 4.85%, as evidenced by a report by Colliers consultants.

Thus, the Romanian real estate market has become the most liquid segment of the merger and acquisition market, with different size investors from individual investors seeking to place their liquidity from other businesses and up to local developers, regional or local global funds specialized in real estate investment.

The Pipera area, for example, has attracted during the last years the interest of certain real estate investors such as Globalworth, which attracted the Amazon giant as tenant, or Smartown Investments, behind which is the Israeli investor Teddy Sagi.

One United Properties is one of the leading real estate developers who have positioned themselves on the exclusive residential property segment in Bucharest. The company has in its portfolio several completed residential projects (188 apartments), under construction (340 apartments), to be started in the following years (484 apartments) in projects such as One Floreasca Lake, One Herastrau Park and One Charles de Gaulle.

Victor Capitanu and Andrei Diaconescu each hold about 46% of the shares of One United Properties, after the end of September, when the company raised its capital by 10 million euros attracted from a number of about 12 private investors. Thus, the company issued 70,792 new shares worth 141.25 euros per share, and the investors who subscribed for the capital increase took over 8.13% of the company, according to information released by One United Properties.

Published on MIRSANU.RO on Octomber 16, 2017.