No one takes into account the prices at which these properties were bought any more, as valuations are based on what could be gained from renting or redeveloping them.
MacroMall has been recently sold by British investment fund Carpathian to Cypriot investors for some EUR2 million, after having paid EUR19 million for it in 2006, therefore at a 90% discount. MacroMall’s main tenant is electronics and home appliances retailer Domo, but the low number of customers drove rents down to as little as EUR2/square meter.
The mall is located on a two-hectare plot on the exit to Bucharest, in an area with other important retailers such as Metro, Selgros, Praktiker, Carrefour and Decathlon. Given that there is already a significant shopping center in the city, Unirea, near the railway station, and at least five more plots are held by investors planning to build malls, MacroMall’s future is uncertain.
At the end of October, businessman Ioannis Papalekas paid EUR17.3 million for City Mall, which had been sold for EUR103.5 million in 2006. This means he bought it at an 83% discount. All consultants on the market believe City Mall will continue as a shopping center, but agree it needs about EUR10 million investments in upgrades to attract new tenants. Current tenants include Domo, along with Billa, Sprider Shoes and House of Art.
These deals completed in the past month follow other similar deals concluded during the crisis, when Vitantis Bucharest and Moldova Mall in Iasi were sold for EUR5, while Maritimo Constanta cost EUR1 off-plan, to which the debt to banks is added.
Another deal was the takeover of the ERA Oradea and Iasi retail parks by investment fund Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund. The two parks were developed by Omilos, whose shareholders got almost 300 million Argo shares. Argo was trading for GBP0.07 on the London market on Wednesday so that the price could be put at about EUR20 million.
Only ailing projects have been sold on the local shopping center market over the last two years, so that the cumulated value of the deals stands at about EUR70 million, as calculated by ZF.
This is three times less than the most expensive mall ever sold on the local market, Polus Center in Cluj, for which Austrian-held Immofinanz paid EUR210 million in 2007.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)