The decision comes after the sale by Immofinanz of its entire logistics portfolio to US-held Blackstone last year and Armonia was its only asset on this segment left.
“The Armonia Arad property is not part of Immofinanz’s core portfolio, which is why we will proceed to selling it,” company officials said, adding they could not provide additional details as the process had just begun.
The tenants that rented space in the former Armonia mall include automotive wiring manufacturer Leoni Wiring Systems, which opened a wiring plant there about two years ago.
“Leoni uses about 8,000 square meters for its plant in Armonia, which is currently employing several hundred people,” Leoni representatives told ZF.
Armonia Arad mall had a lettable area of 26,000 square meters, which means Leoni rented about one third of it.
Immofinanz closed the mall in 2012 due to the difficult retail market outside Bucharest and converted it into industrial space under the Log Center Arad brand. The project is located on the E68 European road connecting Szeged (Hungary) and Arad.
Blackstone bought the logistics portfolio of Immofinanz in an over EUR500 million deal at the end of last year. The deal included 36 completed properties in various European countries such as Germany, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Russia and three projects under development, one in Germany and two in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)