YIT has sold housing projects in Prague, the Czech Republic and in Bratislava, Slovakia to YCE Housing I fund. The value of the projects is approximately €50 million, and the sales are recorded in the last quarter of the year.
The projects to be constructed in the city centre of Bratislava are the third, fourth and fifth phases on STEIN2 area development project. The construction of the third phase was started in summer 2017 and it will be completed in the third quarter of 2018. The construction of the fourth and the fifth phases were started in December, and they will be completed in spring 2019. The phases comprise of approximately 180 apartments in total.
The project to be constructed in Prague is Koru Vinohradska. The construction of the project was started in October 2017 and it will be completed in summer 2019. The project will comprise of approximately 60 apartments.
After the start of cooperation one year ago, YIT has sold 10 projects to YCE Housing I fund in total. YCE Housing I fund supports YIT’s growth strategy in the CEE countries. By selling part of its project pipeline to YCE Housing I fund, YIT can release capital from projects under execution for new earlier-stage developments. During the next years, the fund is expected to carry out over ten projects and approximately one thousand apartments to be sold primarily to private buyers by YIT acting as an agent. YIT recognises profit generated by the fund according to its ownership share.
The investors in the YCE Housing I fund are YIT (40%), Etera (30%) and a group of Finnish private investment companies. The fund’s equity is approximately €37 million and it is managed by Vicus Capital Advisors Limited, a company with long experience of real estate investment and development activities in Eastern Europe and Russia.
