Download - Volksbank AG

Benefiting from
advantages of
Central and Eastern
European growth
market
EBRD as strategic partner
for real-estate projects
in Central and
Eastern Europe
REAL ESTATE.
BUSINESS APPROACH. One area in which the concept of internationalisation has been widely implemented
is the real-estate segment which was considerably expanded in the last few years. This
area which constitutes the ideal field of business for a bank specialising in long-term operations
was turned into one of the Investkredit Group’s most important growth businesses owing to
the efforts of Europolis Invest, a real-estate management company owned by Investkredit, which
successfully combined its own real-estate developments with investments in fully rented top-class
commercial real estate located in the capitals of the EU candidate countries.
The Europolis Invest Group has specialised in three specific fields: real-estate investments, realestate
project development and real-estate portfolio management. The Group’s business focus
is on office properties and logistic properties. Since the central aim is to safeguard revenue in the long
term, the main factors in project selection are the quality of the buildings, the creditworthiness of the
tenants and the long-term contractual safeguarding of rentals. A profitable real-estate portfolio in
Vienna – including properties such as the Akademiehof Karlsplatz – served as launching pad for the
bank’s activities in the Central and Eastern European countries.
The existing real-estate portfolio outside of Austria comprises two office projects in Budapest,
called “City Gate“ and “Info Park Research Centre“, the “Hadovka Office Park“ and the “Technopark
Pekarska“ project as well as the “River City Prague“ urban development project in Prague and the
“Warsaw Towers“, “Saski Point“ and “Saski Crescent“ office buildings in Warsaw. The purchase of
the “Alliance Logistic Centre“ in the vicinity of Warsaw was the bank’s first acquisition in the field of
logistic properties.
Construction work on the “Danube House“ building in the context of the River City Prague project
was continued as planned in the year under review. The “Saski Point“ and “Alliance Logistic Centre“
buildings were acquired in the course of the reporting period. The contracts on the purchase of the
“Saski Crescent“ and “Technopark Pekarska“ projects were signed at the end of the year. The two
latter projects allowed the bank to implement its concept of so-called “forward deals“ for the first
time on a larger scale in the Central and Eastern European market. Forward deals are a mixture of
classic real-estate investments and development projects, with the investment being already effected
before the building is finished and let. Payment and purchase price depend on the completion of the
construction work and the quality of the tenancy agreements.
Financing in the real-estate segment
Austria Abroad Total
in EUR m 2001 2000 Change 2001 2000 Change 2001 2000 Change
Loans1) Securities
13 9 +47 % 4 5 -30 % 16 14 +19 %
financing2) 42 -100 % - - 42 -100 %
Buildings 42 55 -23 % 199 45 +343 % 242 100 +142 %
Total financing 55 105 -48 % 203 50 +305 % 258 155 +66 %
1) Loans and advances to customers, trust loans and provision for guarantees
2) Bonds and other fixed-income securities of other non-bank issuers
In December 2001, the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
purchased a 35% stake in the Europolis Invest Group to participate in its successful Central European
expansion strategy. For this purpose, the EBRD committed EUR 105 m in equity capital, making
Europolis Invest one of the largest real-estate funds in the EU candidate countries. The hitherto largest
Real estate
THE BANK FOR CORPORATES
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