GTC has decided to boost its Hungarian portfolio again by investing €160 million in the acquisition of two office properties in Budapest, the Ericsson HQ and the Siemens Evosoft HQ, both developed by local company Wing.
Having purchased the Váci Greens D office building, GTC continues its streak of seizing new opportunities by acquiring two assets in Budapest. Both buildings are conveniently located in the southern part of Buda on the Danube riverbank. The Ericsson HQ comprises 21,100 sqm of Class A lettable space, including offices, a laboratory, a canteen and 500 underground parking places. This fully-leased building is home to one of the Swedish company’s largest R&D centres. It was also awarded the LEED ‘Gold’ certification confirming pro-environmental solutions applied to meet various needs of the tenant.
The Siemens Evosoft HQ office building is Wing’s newest property development project delivered in late 2020. It brings 20,700 sqm of modern space housing research and development functions and providing employees with a sustainable working environment. It is fully leased and LEED Gold certified.
“We strive to develop and acquire buildings that meet the highest environmental standards while blending seamlessly into the urban fabric and creating local landmarks. We are thrilled to see them project their image not only on their immediate surroundings but also reach much further shaping their entire neighbourhoods. Acquisition of the Ericsson Headquarters and the Siemens Evosoft Headquarters will complement and further boost our green office portfolio in CEE. Those two properties with a combined NOI of €8.9 million will contribute significantly to our FFO generation. We aim to finance the acquisition with our own funds combined with bank financing and green bonds issued in late 2020 and early 2021,” commented Ariel Ferstman, CFO at GTC.
“The transaction of the Ericsson and evosoft headquarters buildings is in line with our company’s growth strategy over recent years, which aims to become a significant market player in the international real estate market. Therefore, we focus our operation on regional expansion as well as on our property development and investment activities. Wing is active in all real estate market segments, whether it is residential properties, office buildings, industrial properties, shopping centres or hotels in Hungary, or – via its subsidiary Echo Investment – offices and residential projects in Poland.” said Noah Steinberg, Chairman & CEO of Wing.
Currently, the office portfolio of GTC Hungary comprises six office assets, including Duna Tower, Váci Greens D, Center Point I and II, and GTC Metro. The company is also developing Pillar which will offer 29,000 sqm of office space. It has been fully rented before its commissioning scheduled for Q1 2022 and will become the headquarters of ExxonMobile.
