Romania: Record Transaction for the Office Market Outside Bucharest City Business Centre (CBC) in Timisoara Sold to NEPIUpdated: 02-02-2012 |

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has acted as the exclusive advisor on behalf of the vendors, Ovidiu Sandor and his business partners, for the disposal of the office park City Business Centre in Timisoara, Romania, to the South-African investment fund New Europe Property Investments (NEPI). Due to its volume and location (outside Bucharest), the transaction represents a record for the Romanian investment market: no other business centre of such volume was ever transacted on the office market in other major cities except Bucharest. Ovidiu Sandor will continue to develop the next two phases of CBC (the fourth and the fifth building) and will continue to manage the property, as well as the leasing of the office complex.

Troy Javaher, Managing Director for Jones Lang LaSalle in Romania, states: "Despite the challenging economic environment, the indisputable success of this award-winning office complex, has attracted several offers from major international players in the last 3-4 years. As the first major institutional office transaction outside Bucharest, CBC is of particular importance to this evolving market, as it demonstrates the continued existence of investor demand for regional projects provided that they are truly prime and dominant.”

Ovidiu Sandor, the main shareholder of the vendor, also comments: "Jones Lang LaSalle's contribution was instrumental since the early stages in this commercially complex transaction. Initially, we set out to prove that it is very possible to deliver an affordable yet truly prime and modern office complex which will not only encourage top national and multinational tenants to relocate, but also raise the profile of promising regional cities such as Timisoara. We are very proud to have contributed in our way to this process of putting Timisoara on the outsourcing/nearshoring map, and we look forward to continuing to play a positive role in contributing to the development of the Western Region and the community at large.”

The three existing buildings of  25.000 m2 lettable area are currently 90% leased to large international tenants such as IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, Wipro Technologies, BCR, Deloitte and Microsoft. The number of employees who operate in CBC exceeds 2000. The construction works for the fourth building are underway and is due for delivery the summer of 2012, while the fifth building is due for delivery by the end of 2013, both buildings already benefiting from solid and increasing occupier interest. 

Upon final completion, CBC will span over 43,000 m2 (Gross Leasable Area) and will include five state-of-the-art interlinked structures arranged in master-planned setting in the heart of Timisoara, Romania. CBC has generated significant recognition from the international architectural communities and incorporates several market-leading "green” sustainable development features which are found in very few buildings in Romania.

Timisoara is one of the largest cities in Romania with a population of circa 320,000 inhabitants and it is considered the "capital city" of the Western Region. Historically an important geographical and cultural gateway to the West, Timisoara is steadily evolving into a key business gateway to South and Eastern Europe, and the beneficiary of over €300 million in new infrastructure investments to support its future growth. Highly qualified labor force, economic dynamism, a highly transparent and business-friendly environment continue to attract new waves of investment.