Sonae Sierra to buy three land plots in 2008
21 March 2008
Sonae Sierra, the Portugal-based international commercial centres operator, wants to buy at least three plots of land in Romania on which it will develop mall projects. One of those is likely be located in Bucharest.
“I hope that by the end of the year we will buy at least three plots of land for commercial centres in Romania. We are looking into several possibilities in Bucharest too. Our policy is to officially announce the acquisitions only after signing the contracts”, Alvaro Portela, the Portuguese company’s general director stated.
Sonae Sierra has entered the Romanian market last year by buying the River Mall Ramnicu Valcea commercial centre. Subsequently the company bought two plots of land in Ploiesti and Craiova, the developer intending to build two commercial centres there.
The investment’s value will total EUR 293 million, with the construction works scheduled to be finished in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The commercial centre in Ploiesti will be built on a 16-hectare plot of land in the city’s southern area and will include commercial and recreational spaces with a total rentable surface of 64,070 square meters.
The investment totals approximately EUR 153.6 million. The project in Craiova will also include commercial and recreational spaces, totalling a rentable surface of 55,537 square meters and demanding an investment of EUR 139.4 million.
”For each of our projects we estimate a profit margin of around 20 per cent. We will resort to banking sources in order to cover around 70 per cent of the investment, with the rest being covered from our own funds”, Alvaro Portela said.