Austrian property investor to exit Hungary, eight office buildings expected to be put up for sale
On 1 June, the Supervisory Board of CA Immobilien Anlagen decided to reclassify Hungary as a non-core market from a strategic point of view and at the same time authorised the Management Board to initiate all relevant activities related to the exit from the market, whether by platform divestment, sub-portfolio divestment or individual asset divestment.
CA Immo invests in, manages and develops large modern office buildings in major cities in Germany, Austria and the Central and Eastern European region. CA Immo, founded in 1987 and listed on the ATX (Austrian Traded Index) of the Vienna Stock Exchange, has real estate assets with a total value of around EUR 5.9 billion, of which 66% is located in Germany, 8% in Austria and the remaining 26% in Central and Eastern Europe. A reduction in the latter is expected with the sale of the Hungarian portfolio.
In fact, the exit was already underway in May, when CA Immo had sold the Waterfront Office Centre it owned. The sale of the 14,200 sqm office building in District 2 was made as the company continues its strategic capital reallocation programme, focusing on high-quality, modern office buildings located in the core markets of its investment portfolio (Austria, Germany).
Commenting on the sale, Keegan Viscius, Investment Director of CA Immo, said at the time that the successful sale in Budapest was another step in their capital reallocation scheme, which aims to dispose of assets that do not fit strategically into their long-term portfolio, while improving the quality of their portfolio and cash flow. The firm's medium-term goal is to increase the core markets in Germany and Austria to more than 80% of the total portfolio.
As of 31 December 2022, CA Immo's Hungarian portfolio consisted of nine office buildings in Budapest (now only eight) with gross leasable area (GLA) of approximately 194,000 sqm and a book value of around EUR 460 million.
The exit is therefore expected to bring eight Budapest office buildings to the market, with around 180,000 square metres.
The company's office buildings on the local market are the following:
- Bartók Ház - 17,600 sqm
- Capital Square - 34,000 sqm
- City Gate - 25,800 sqm
- IP West - 32,100 sqm
- Millennium Towers (4 office buildings, a Tower I., II., III and Building H of the K&H headquarters) - 70,600 sqm
The Hungarian market is not the only one from which the real estate investor is withdrawing. In the autumn of 2022 they sold their real estate portfolio in Romania, closing down their activities there.
Cover photo: Getty Images
