Greece’s Bluehouse snaps up ERG Capital portfolios

Bluehouse Capital, the Greek private equity real estate investment management firm with a focus in the property markets of South East Europe, is the investor that will pay EUR 27 million to acquire the four properties of Bulgarian real estate investment trusts (REITs) ERG Capital 1 and 2, sources close to the negotiations told Dnevnik.

The Greek company has already signed preliminary accords with the REITs, owned by Bulgarian American Investment Fund (BAIF).

On Wednesday, BAIF officially announced it has put pen to paper but declined to name the buyer.

In 2009, Bluehouse Capital paid almost the same amount to gobble up Sofia’s Auto Union Centre for EUR 27.3 million. In Bulgaria, the company owns also Sofia hotel The Greenville and the planned Boyana Park residential complex, which it acquired from London-listed investment company Equest Balkan Properties (EBP).

According to the preliminary accord, ERG Capital 1 will sell a store of hypermarket chain Praktiker for EUR 10 million and a distribution centre of the Swedish cosmetics company Oriflame for EUR 8 million, both located in Sofia.

ERG Capital 2 will shed a Praktiker store for EUR 8 million and a store of local supermarket chain Piccadili for EUR 6.7 million, both in the northern Black Sea city of Varna.

A number of conditions need to be fulfilled before the parties pen the final agreements. One of the conditions includes whether the tenant of two of the Praktiker buildings will exercise its the right of first refusal and commit to buy the properties under conditions no worse than the negotiated. Furthermore, the buyer should successfully carry out due diligence within two months after a potential refusal by Praktiker.