10 Jul 2014

Revetas Fund I acquires City Center Sofia

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Revetas Capital Advisors LLP (‘Revetas’), a specialist real estate investment advisor focused on value added and opportunistic investments in Central and Eastern Europe, announces today the acquisition by Revetas Fund I of a property in Sofia, Bulgaria. This represents the 5th investment of Revetas Fund I and brings a total of 15 assets with over 152,000 m2 (1,636,000 ft2) acquired by Revetas Fund I in the CEE region.

Revetas Fund I has acquired City Center Sofia (“CCS“), a prominent shopping centre comprising over 44,000 m2 located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, financed by a major international bank. “This is the first of several planned acquisitions in Bulgaria,” indicated Radu Boitan senior investment director for Revetas.

“This is an important strategic acquisition for Revetas and our Park Centers retail platform. CCS is a premium property in a prime location within an affluent catchment area in the center of Sofia with excellent access for consumers including the only shopping center with direct access to the metro. Revetas Fund I will invest in repositioning and rebranding CCS, which was the first modern shopping center in Sofia.  The strategy is to create a dynamic shopping experience catered to the local community and professionals working in Sofia. The newly branded Park Center Sofia will shine again and be a dynamic social hub providing fashion, high tech, beauty, wellness, dining and entertainment.

The continued success of Revetas’s strategy throughout CEE validates Revetas’ decision to launch a specialist Fund supporting the recapitalization of high quality cash flowing assets that are under pressure given the current illiquidity in the region. City Center Sofia will be added to the Fund’s Park Centers retail platform which now has a total of 14 retail assets across CEE with 124,000 m2 of retail space. We continue to actively pursue opportunities to expand the Park Centers retail platform throughout CEE.

Over the past year Revetas has been the leader in providing a successful exit for legacy investors, investing fresh capital into assets to maximize their potential, and assist the banks’ long term strategy of de-leveraging.

For many institutions who own such properties and the banks that finance them, Revetas provides an increasingly attractive solution to the structural problems of the region’s real estate market left over from the financial crisis,” commented Eric Assimakopoulos, Managing Partner of Revetas Capital Advisors LLP.