Guardian Managers Ltd. has completed a sale-and-leaseback portfolio of retail properties located in Hungary. The puchase, made on behalf of The Guardian New Europe Emerging Cities Fund, comprises timber processing and retailing facilities let 100% to Erdert Kft. The purchase price was over €20 million, based on a 15-year triple net lease.
Established in 1951, Erdert is the largest wood trading company in Hungary. The acquired properties are used for processing and sale of timber products, both to trade and public. One of the properties, at Tuzser on the Ukrainian border, is home to the largest timber processing plant in Hungary. The location is an important transport link as this is one of the few sites where the Russian broad-gauge railway meets the European standard gauge railway.
The portfolio comprises eight substantial sites spread throughout Hungary. Three are in the larger towns of Western Transdanubia (Gyor, Veszprem, Zalaegerszeg), four sites are in East Hungary (Kecskemet, Debrecen, Bekescsaba, Tuzser) and one is in Budapest. The overall plot area of the sites is over 430,000 m², with a total rentable area of 51,600 m².
Alwin Tamosius, Chairman of Guardian Managers, states, "We believe that the Erdert portfolio, acquired at a very attractive yield, is an excellent opportunity for the Guardian New Europe Emerging Cities Fund to become established in an important retail sector in Hungary. It fits perfectly in the fund's strategy of focusing on emerging cities in Central Europe."
The Erdert transaction is the third for the fund in 2007, folowwing acquisitions of a newly constructed retail park in Wiesbaden, Germany, and an industrial portfolio in Slovakia. A fourth acquisition, comprising a newly built office complex in Warsaw, Poland, currently due diligence, is expected to complete in early August.
Since its launch in December 2004 the fund has assembled a €150-million portfolio of 20 properties located in Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Poland, including the Philips Headquarters Building in Warsaw.
Source: Guardian
