Real estate investor Ioannis Papalekas has bought back the City Mall shopping center in Bucharest for EUR 17.3 million, after having bought the mall in 2005 for EUR 46 million, and sold it to Australian APN Fund a year after for EUR 103 million. He has recently bought the shopping center back for a figure six times lower than what he got for it.

The shopping center was under bankruptcy and after six failed bids, the price went down from EUR 33 million in March this year, to the final acquisition price. The EUR 17 million will be paid until the end of this year.

Papalekas' company Star Imob bought the shopping center through direct negotiation. In the previous deal involving City Mall, Australian APN UKA paid EUR 103 million for Ioannis Papalekas' company Victoria Holding, the owner of the mall.

UniCredit bank has a EUR 37 million exposure on this mall, while Bancpost had EUR 5 million to recover from the mall owners. It hasn't yet been decided how much money will be directed to the banks, according to Casa de Insolventa Transilvania, the judiciary administrator.

Ioannis Papalekas has also invested in the UpGround mixed project in Pipera area of Bucharest.

editor@romania-insider.com