The Romanian malls boasting the highest rent income against development or acquisition investment are Bucuresti Mall, Plaza Romania and Iulius Mall Iasi, namely the first two centers of this type in Bucharest and the first one outside Bucharest.
The explanation lies primarily in the lower investments involved in the development of these malls between 1999 and 2004, when land prices and construction costs were much lower. From this reason, but also because they managed to keep a relatively steady level of revenue, the three projects in 2010 generated revenue accounting for 22.1% to 30.9% in construction investment, on a market where the average return revolves around 10.7%, according to a ZF analysis.
The owners of the three malls, part of the portfolios of Anchor Grup (Turkey) and Iulius Group (Iulian Dascalu), invested around EUR150 million and generated revenue of EUR38 million last year.
The following positions in the ranking are filled by Baneasa Developments, owner of Baneasa Shopping City (19.9%), and by Iulius Mall Cluj (17.3%), another project part of Iulian Dascalu’s portfolio.
The sixth position is held by a French investor, Bertrand Catteau, owner of shopping center TOM in Constanta. Catteau last year got EUR6.8 million from renting TOM, in which he invested EUR40 million in 2006, namely 17% of initial investments.
Ovidiu Budeanu built a mall with satisfying results in Bacau. Arena Mall, a EUR30-million investment, last year generated EUR5 million from rent (16.7% of investments).
The ranking also includes Matrix Investments, controlled by several businesspeople of Ardeal, who own Mures Mall of Targu-Mures, Militari Shopping in western Bucharest, as well as a third mall of the Iulius network, namely the project of Timisoara, which brought revenues of EUR14.5 million in 2010 (13.8%).
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)