Demetra, Panayides of Cyprus in EUR 13 mln Romania land deal

— Residential development of 350 luxury apartments in Bucharest underway

 

Demetra Investment Pcl, Cyprus’ largest investment company, has invested EUR 13 mln in a major property deal in Bucharest’s Baneasa Gardens, one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods of the Romanian capital, where it will develop a project of 350 luxury apartments in association with A. Panayides Contracting Pcl.

Demetra Investment announced that on October 17 the affiliated Demetra Realty Developments Srl proceeded with the purchase of land in the Baneasa area and it intends to start development immediately.

Demetra Realty Developments is registered in Romania as a private company of limited liability with a 50% stake held by Demetra Overseas Investments (a 100% subsidiary of Demetra Investment Public Ltd) and the remaining 50% held by Osorio Holdings Ltd., which is 70%-owned by A. Panayides Contracting Public Ltd. and 30% by Pharmakas Quarries Ltd.

Demetra Investments is in the midst of an aggressive expansion and diversification plan, which aims to invest in other fields and reduce its exposure to investments made in Cyprus Stock Exchange holdings.

Demetra Investments’ first foray into new areas came from strategic cooperation deals reached with the likes of Cybarco, C&A Toumazis and A. Panayides Contracting in projects in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania in line with comments made by Demetra Chairman Stavros Evagorou that, “the company is also targeting investments in major projects, both in Cyprus as well as overseas”.

The new investment involves the purchase of land in the rapidly developing Baneasa area in Bucharest, which together with the experience and knowhow of A. Panayides, by far the largest Cypriot company involved in real estate development projects in Romania, aims to offer luxury and affordable apartments to the middle- and high-income groups in Romania.

Reliable sources told the Financial Mirror that Demetra’s investment will lead to the construction and delivery of up to 350 luxury apartments within a total area of 40.000 sq.m.

Baneasa Gardens is located 300 metres south of the Baneasa project and is only 10 minutes from the city centre with easy access to the DN1 highway linking the centre with Bucharest’s Otopeni airport. 

Baneasa project is one of the largest construction projects in Europe in an area spanning 2.2 mln sq.m. with a construction area of 1 mln sq.m.

The whole project under development includes the Baneasa Business Park (offices – 160.000 sq.m.), the Baneasa Commercial Park (commercial mall – 250.000 sq.m.: Baneasa Shopping City, Carrefour, Metro Cash & Carry, Bricostore, IKEA, a parking area for 8.000 cars), and the Baneasa Residential Park (apartments).

Just 400 metres away from the Baneasa projects will be another major commercial development that will include the central offices of multinationals KPMG, BMW, Citroen, Rover and Mercedes.