February 22 (SeeNews) - London-listed Globalworth Real Estate Investment Ltd, a company targeting opportunities in Romania, said on Wednesday it will pay 42.5 million euro ($44.5 million) for a warehouse currently leased to Romanian automobile maker Dacia.
"Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions precedent, including clearance from the Romanian Competition Council and approval from the property's existing lender," Globalworth said in a press release.
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The actual owner of the warehouse is Elgan, the company owned by businessman Simon Roth, which has developed several similar real estate projects, in Hungary and France. Roth was advised on the sale by real estate consultancy Colliers International.
The facility benefits from a great location about 100 km west of Bucharest near the Bucharest - Pitesti highway, one of Romania's principal warehouse and industrial corridors, and is 28 km away from Dacia's main plant in Mioveni, Arges county.
Spanning across some 68,000 square metres, it is one of the largest distribution centres of Renault Group for spare parts and accessories outside of France.
Romanian car maker Automobile Dacia, a unit of France's Renault, posted a net profit of 447.9 million lei ($105 million/99 million euro) in 2015, up 20.4% on the year, while turnover increased 1.8% to 19.16 billion lei.
Dacia's sales in the EU increased by 9.6% year-on-year in 2016, reaching 413,523 units. Dacia's market share stayed flat in 2016 compared to the previous year, at 2.8%.
Renault bought Romania's Automobile Dacia, an ailing state-owned company at the time, in 1999.
Dacia topped the SeeNews ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe by total revenue for 2016, surpassing Romanian oil and gas firm OMV Petrom.
In December, South Africa-listed real estate investment trust (REIT) Growthpoint Properties subscribed for an initial 26.9% stake in London Globalworth Real Estate Investment Limited following a 186.4 million euro investment.
Globalworth is a real estate investment company active in the SEE and CEE regions with a prime focus on Romania. The company is internally managed by some 70 professionals and its portfolio currently comprises 15 high quality real estate investments currently valued at some 962.4 million euro, all located in Romania.
(1 euro=4.5157 lei)