Property investment trust Fortress, based in South Africa, has reached an agreement to purchase ELI Park 1, an industrial project in Buftea-Chitila, near Bucharest, for an undisclosed sum. The sellers of the 50,000 sqm project are Element Industrial and Pavăl Holding.
“Romania is one of the most exciting long-term logistics and warehousing investment propositions globally due to the high industrial and consumer growth potential and close access to Western Europe. The market is in the development phase with a lot of runway for real estate investment for Fortress. We are selective and intend to grow our high-quality warehouse portfolio across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the coming years. Earlier this year we purchased our first logistics assets in Poland. In saying that – we are not strangers to the region, given that we are the largest shareholder in NEPI Rockcastle Plc, active in high-growth retail real estate in CEE,” said Steven Brown, CEO of Fortress REIT Limited.
Element Industrial is working on several industrial projects in smaller cities and aims to build a portfolio of 500,000 sqm by 2026.
Property consultancy CBRE and law firm Kinstellar assisted the sellers, while the buyer worked with law firm Dentons, real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox and professional services firm PwC.
Fortress had an asset base of around €1.5 billion at the end of June.
