Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek has become the third largest shareholder of Globalworth via his CPI Property Group, after buying Ioannis Papalekas out, the founder and CEO of Globalworth, who exited but will retain his management position. CPI Property Group paid some EUR280 million for this stake.
The others who sold in this deal on Monday were Dimitris Raptis, deputy CEO of Globalworth, who sold 40% of his stake, and Eli Alroy, non-executive director, all his 1.1 milion shares.
Developer CPI Property Group has seven projects in Romania, five of which in Bucharest, all of which in the residential sector and two in Iasi, one of which is Felicia Shopping City.
Ioannis Papalekas has become one of the most important actors on the Romanian real estate market over 20 years. He started out in late nineties and early 2000s by renting some apartments in the Unirii Boulevard area. He got his big break when he built and sold an office building for Bancpost, part of the EFG group.
The main shareholder of Globalworth remains South Africa’s Growthpoint Properties, 29.4%, followed by Germany’s Aroundtown, 21.9% and CPI Property Group, 16.8%.
Fourth largest investor is Israel’s Altshuler Group, 6.2% and fifth is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)