Belgian firm Warehouses De Pauw has announced that it is selling all its holdings in the Czech Republic and has promised to transfer investment to Romania. The company is to sell 100 percent of its shares in Czech subsidiary WDP CZ in a deal worth around EUR 25 million. The move is part of Warehouses De Pauw's strategy, “to strengthen its position in its core markets in Western Europe, with the logistics growth market in Romania as a supplementary component.” Czech logistics real estate company CTP group bought the firm's portfolio in the country.

The company entered the Romanian market in 2007 and currently controls warehousing space and land for development locally. The firm's assets in Romania value around EUR 25 million, the same as the selling price of the Czech holdings, and represent 2 percent of the company's portfolio. It has projects and land plots in Constanta, Brasov,Dambovita, Calarasi and Prahova counties, according to its website. In 2010 Warehouses De Pauw made a EUR 75 million agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop business in Romania.

Warehouses De Pauw develops and invests in semi-industrial and logistics real estate, both warehouses and offices. The firm's property portfolio amounts to more than 1.5 million sqm and is spread over some 100 sites for storage and distribution in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, as well as the holdings sold in the Czech Republic.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

(photo source: The company)