Since March 2012 IMMOFINANZ Group has sold four properties in Austria: two office buildings, one commercial building and a hotel. These transactions reflect the company's strategy to sell properties that do not match the target portfolio with respect to size, location, quality or use.
The proceeds on these sales amounted to over 12 million and exceeded the carrying amount of the assets by a substantial margin. With the sale of the last project in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Group has now also withdrawn completely from this market.
Sale of four properties in Austria
These four sales represent a further step by IMMOFINANZ Group to optimize its portfolio. The above-mentioned office buildings represent a property in the Herbeckstrasse in Vienna and a property in the Itzlinger Hauptstrasse in Salzburg.
As planned, the company also sold a commercial property in Radstadt, Salzburg. The fourth transaction involved a hotel in the Taborstrasse in Vienna, which is the first of several hotel sales planned for Austria over the next two years.
"The successful conclusion of these transactions in recent weeks reflects the steady optimization of our Austrian portfolio. Once again, the proceeds clearly exceeded the respective carrying amounts. These sales are further successful examples of our 'real estate machine' and will release additional funds for profitable new investments," commented Manfred Wiltschnigg, Member of the Executive Board of IMMOFINANZ Group.
Exit from Bosnia-Herzegovina
IMMOFINANZ Group sold its 50% stake in a residential construction project in Bosnia-Herzegovina during January and is no longer active on the Bosnian market. With the sale of this project, IMMOFINANZ Group demonstrated the steady implementation of its exit strategy.
"Bosnia is not one of our core countries, and the sale of this last property was therefore an obvious step. It will allow us to strengthen our focus on our eight core markets and increase our activities in these areas," added Wiltschnigg. The core countries of IMMOFINANZ Group are Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Russia.
In 2010/11 IMMOFINANZ Group announced a five-year sale program with a volume of 2.5 billion. The goal is to adjust and increase the turnover of the current property portfolio. These latest sales illustrate the continuation of this success course: seven quarters after the start of the program IMMOFINANZ Group has exceeded its sales targets, with proceeds of 941.4 million received by January 31, 2012.
Source: Immofinanz Group
