Austrian real estate investment fund Immofinanz is negotiating with Romanian lender BCR, part of the Austrian Erste Bank group, the acquisition of the Bucharest Financial Plaza office building, known as the "Bancorex" building in the center of Bucharest.

Investment fund Revetas Capital is also among the bidders, and BCR still accepts offers.

A deal could be announced in the first half of 2021 at an estimated price of about EUR 40 million, according to sources quoted by Profit.ro.

Immofinanz has become active again on the Romanian market after a long break of over a decade, during which the Austrian investor bought only a small retail park in Botosani. This could be linked to the change in management. Since this spring, the Austrian businessman of Croatian origin Ronny Pecik took over as executive director of the company, while he is also a shareholder with over 10% in Immofinanz.

The Austrian group's representatives refused to comment on the rumors related to the Bancorex building, adding that Romania is one of the main markets for Immofinanz, and one of the group's priorities is local development.

"We constantly invest in modernizing our properties. Last year, we completed the renovation process of a large area of the VIVO! Cluj. The most recent acquisition in Romania is a retail property, namely the STOP SHOP park, Botosani. At the group level, the strategy includes returning to a profitable growth trend as soon as possible after the Covid-19 crisis, continuing to develop the STOP SHOP brand of retail parks and increasing the number of "myhive" buildings (Immofinanz's office concept) in the capital cities in the main markets we operate in," Immofinanz representatives stated.

BCR initiated the sale process of the Bucharest Financial Plaza office building in August 2019 and expects to complete the transaction in the first half of next year.

(Photo: Radub85/ Dreamstime)

andrei@romania-insider.com