“We estimate an increase in large transactions in Romania this year. JLL’s portfolio alone includes two major transactions that are expected to be concluded in the first half of the year,” the company said.
The value of transactions conducted in 2018 is estimated at EUR904 million.
JLL was involved in the most recent transaction on the market, the sale of The Office Cluj Napoca by Mulberry Development and NEPI Rockastle to the Dedeman group. JLL was the exclusive representative for Mulberry Development in the sale.
“The completion of the sale of The Office in Cluj Napoca marks a new round of records on the real estate investment market outside Bucharest and the Romanian market overall. It is a major landmark for the local property investment market: the biggest transaction of a real estate asset in a secondary city signed in the past 10 years and the first of this size where both sides are prestigious Romanian entrepreneurs,” said Andrei Văcaru, Head of Capital Markets JLL Romania.
The Office is the biggest office project in Cluj-Napoca, with a total area of 61,000 square meters, 100% leased, and certified BREEAM Excellent. In a 2018 report of NEPI-Rockcastle The Office was assessed at EUR130 million.
With this transaction, Cluj-Napoca regains its position on the real estate investment map in Romania. After two significant but smaller transactions on this market last year, namely the sale of the Maestro office building and the logistics park CTPark, the sale of The Office proves there is liquidity for institutional projects in Cluj, JLL said.
“The sale of The Office is an important benchmark as regards the price of prime products in secondary cities. The coordination of the sale process has given us the opportunity to demonstrate there was high interest for this project and to identify the groups truly interested in acquiring office buildings in secondary cities,” added Vacaru.
This is Dedeman’s second major transaction on the real estate market, after the acquisition of The Bridge office project in Bucharest, developed by Forte Partners.
“The emergence of private Romanian buyers as major players on the institutional real estate transactions market shows promise. Romania would have much to gain if, besides them, we also had local investment funds or local pension funds investing, the way it is in Hungary or the Czech Republic,” said Vacaru.