Austrian investment fund CA Immo, which has properties on the Romanian market, has acquired Europolis, another fund active locally, CA Immo has announced. The purchase price was of EUR 272 million, while the book property value of Europolis' assets is of EUR 1.5 billion.

The seller in the deal was Österreichische Volksbanken-AG Group, which owns Europolis. The agreement between the seller and the CA Immo Group states that one-half of the purchase price is payable upon closing of the transaction (scheduled for January 2011). The other half will be deffered over a period of five years from the closing date.

The seller, which is providing around 40 % of the total financing and is therefore the principal lender to the Europolis Group, has agreed to extend the existing property financing arrangements for a period of five years from the closing date. A subordinated loan in the amount of around EUR 75 m, also with a term of 5 years, shall likewise remain in Europolis.

Disregarding the net present value effects arising from the purchase price deferral and from the other financing arrangements, the purchase price corresponds to a multiple of around 0.9x compared to the adapted equity (NAV) as of 31 December 2009.

Before the transaction is closed, the credit portfolio currently held by Europolis and the refinancing arrangements associated with same are to be assigned to the seller, and the banking licence will be rescinded.

Europolis owns Europe House and Sema Parc office buildings in Bucharest, as well as logistics parks in Bucharest and Arad, while CA Immo owns Bucharest Business Park and Opera House offices. The acquisition will increase the property assets of the CA Immo Group from around EUR 3.6 billion to about EUR 5.0 billion.

CA Immo was the first real estate investment fund to acquire a property in Romania. In 2003 it bought Opera House for EUR 23 million. Europolis has also been involved into some early acquisitions in Romania. In 2003 it bought Europe House in a deal worth around $30 million.

Corina Saceanu