Romania logged just two investment transactions in the first six months of 2012 – the country’s lowest volume since 2005, according to a CBRE report. The two investments, worth €55m, included De’Longhi’s purchase of the former Nokia factory and NEPI’s acquisition of the City Business Centre in Timisoara.
The €45m acquisition of the City Business Centre by the South African investment fund New Europe Property Investment (NEPI) represented the largest transaction in the period between January and June. The tenant list at the City Business Centre includes names like IBM, PwC, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, BCR, Deloitte and Microsoft. The project comprises two office buildings, one of which is still under construction.
Meanwhile, the second transaction completed in the first six months of 2012 – the sale of the Nokia factory (35,000 sqm) in Cluj to the European small appliance manufacturer De’Longhi – amounted to €10m.
Romania remains an attractive market, but lack of funding and problems in the eurozone have increased its investment risk, according to real estate adviser CBRE. In Central and Eastern Europe, the highest investment volume was recorded in Russia and Poland, said James Heyworth Dunne, head of the capital markets and valuation department for CBRE Romania.
