Belgian Mitiska Ventures buys half of InterCora’s Romanian retail portfolio

German real estate investor and developer InterCora Group has sold 50 percent of its Romanian retail portfolio to First Retail International (FRI) a retail property company managed by Belgium-based investment group Mitiska Ventures.

InterCora’s local portfolio consists of 8 operational retail parks located in 8 Romanian cities, with a total GLA of roughly 32,000 sqm. The properties are multi-tenanted and are each anchored by Kaufland and/or Lidl stores. At present 98 percent of GLA is leased with an average remaining fixed lease term (without break options) of ± 8 years. Full occupancy is expected to be reached by mid 2013, announced Mitiska Ventures representatives.

The value of the transaction has not been made public.

Despite the overall economic situation, Romanian retail shows growth potential, said Karel De Bondt, the real estate director for CEE at Mitiska Ventures. “In our opinion the perception of Romania and of Romanian politics does not correctly reflect reality. As is the case for Europe and the world as a whole, the economic situation in Romania has changed. However, retailers are still expanding and good projects continue to perform well. The InterCora portfolio is a very good example of this,” he commented.

In addition to this transaction, Mitiska has also reached an agreement with Alpha Property Development, the company through which InterCora Group is present in Romania, which could mean further investments in Romania. “We believe together we are very well positioned to further enlarge our asset base with high quality developments. It is our intention to identify comparable country partners and portfolios in other European countries,” added Karel De Bondt.

Alpha Property Development is a Romanian company specialized in developing and investing in retail warehousing. German backed InterCora Group is also active in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Romania, Alpha Property Development/InterCora Group has finalized the development of 59 Kaufland hypermarkets and 13 retail parks. Another 12 Kaufland stores and a total of 22.000 sqm GLA of retail parks are currently under development.

First Retail International is a Belgium based real estate fund with a specialist focus on retail warehouse properties in Europe. It currently has a committed capital of EUR 41 million with a final target at EUR 75 million. Current shareholders of FRI include Belgian, Dutch, Luxembourg and Swiss private and institutional investors. The real estate investment management company Mitiska has committed EUR 10 million to FRI as sponsor.