The six investment funds listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, which operate in Romania, own or have more than 30 projects in progress with a total value of 939.5 million euros, in Bucharest and another ten cities across the country, reports zf.ro.

The investors (Dawnay Day Carpathian, Fabian Romania Property Fund, Equest Balkan Properties, North Real Estate Opportunities Fund and the two funds managed by Charlemagne Capital - European Convergence Property Company and European Convergence Development Company) are involved across all segments of the real estate market, with a focus on retail and office space.

The most important investments made by these funds have concentrated on shopping complexes, where the ten retail projects in the portfolios of the funds are collectively worth 523.
5 million euros. The most valuable asset is held by North, which has reappraised, at 95.8 million euros, the retail park it bought in Sibiu for 82.7 million euros last year.

"Individually, with a portfolio of around 200 million euros each, these investors are not that big. Yet, together they account for a large part of the domestic real estate market, being the most active participants on this market after Immoeast," said Bogdan Georgescu, managing partner of Colliers consulting company.

The office segment attracts most of the projects in the Brits' portfolio- 15 properties with a cumulated value of 263.85 million euros.

The most important office projects in the hands of the British investors are the Cubic Centre, held by Fabian and currently in development in Pipera (60 million euros) and the Millennium Business Center close to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, held by Charlemagne and reappraised at over 50 million euros.

"The yields of the domestic market are still high, and these funds will start to sell when the market shows stability. This will happen in about two or three years, when the yields will be around 6% on the office and retail segments," Georgescu added.

These investors have chosen investments that are more profitable than the market average, as the projects they hold, or have in development can yield over 9% in some cases. Most of these investors found it impossible to say no to a takeover offer with a 6% yield. The shareholders of these companies not only include British companies, but also major international financial groups, such as Erste, or Deutsche Bank in the case of the North fund.

"I don't think it's about the appetite of British investors here, but more about the appetite of the funds that conduct capital subscriptions on the London financial market, where most international private or institutional investors are present," explained George Teleman, partner of the Equest investment fund.

Equest owns nine properties on the domestic market, three of which are under development, with a cumulated value of 164.8 million euros estimated for when the projects finish. Some of the funds have not only opted for retail and office projects, but have teamed up with developers for major residential projects such as Asmita Gardens, New Town, logistic developments (Bucharest West Logistics Park) and car park projects (Europark Car Park).