Real estate investment company Globalworth Real Estate, founded and controlled by Greek businessman Ioannis Papalekas, announced it will buy the first building of the Green Court Bucharest office compound, developed by Swedish group Skanska.

The value of the transaction is EUR 44 million. The closing of the acquisition is scheduled for the second quarter of 2015.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of the first building of Skanska's Green Court development project. This prestigious newly built A-class office property is strategically located in Bucharest's new central business district, very close to our existing Bucharest One development,” said Dimitris Raptis, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Globalworth Real Estate Investments.

Romanian law firm Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP) acted as Globalworth's legal advisor on this transaction.

Green Court Bucharest is the first project developed by Skanska Property Romania in Bucharest, and on the Romanian market. The total leasable area of this A class office complex, comprising three buildings, is about 52,000 square meters. The project is located in the Barbu Vacarescu – Pipera area, which is currently the hot spot for office developments in Bucharest.

The sold building offers approximately 19,500 square meters of leasable area. It was completed in the fourth quarter 2014 and is already 91% leased. Its main tenants are Orange Romania and Schneider Electric Romania. The property will be delivered fully leased upon closing, according to Skanska. The building is LEED Gold pre-certified.

“We are happy to announce the sale of this building in such short term from after it was finalised. This shows the quality of our work,” said Marcin Lapinski, president of Skanska Property Romania.

Skanska is currently working on finishing the second building of the Green Court project and on finding tenants for it. French drug maker Sanofi already leased some office space in the new building.

Globalworth is currently developing its own office building in the area, Bucharest One, which is located next to NEPI’s Promenada Mall. The real estate investment company also owns two more office buildings in Pipera, BOB and BOC and plans to build another office compound in the area, Globalworth Campus. Globalworth also owns the Tower Center International office building near Piata Victoriei.

The company’s portfolio was valued at EUR 521 million and its net assets were EUR 378 million, as of June 30, 2014. Globalworth is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of EUR 292 million (as of November 27, 2014).

More news on Skanska:

Swedish Skanska opens its first office building in Romania

Swedish Skanska to invest EUR 33 mln in second phase of its Green Court office project in Bucharest

Orange Romania to move half of its employees to Skanska’s Green Court Bucharest office building

Moe news on Globalworth:

Telekom rents Globalworth Campus building in Bucharest

Papalekas’ Globalworth to build 105,000 sqm office compound in Romanian capital office hotspot

Globalworth buys Tower Center International in Romanian capital

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com