Benevo investment fund buys former Vulcan factory in Bucharest for new retail park

Canadian real estate investment company Benevo Capital recently acquired the 77,000 sqm site of the former Vulcan plant in Bucharest’s Sebastian neighborhood. The value of the transaction amounts to EUR 23 million. The Canadian company plans to build a 35,000sqm retail park on this plot, which will include a Do-It-Yourself store, a 10,000 sqm hypermarket, as well as a commercial galleria, the company has announced. The site is close to a Kaufland store and to the Liberty Center shopping mall.

Vulcan, a factory in the portfolio of businessman Ovidiu Tender, was founded in 1904. However, the zonal planning documentation for the site was filed by Balkan Petroleum, a company controlled by businessman Marian Iancu.

Benevo Capital was founded by Michael Topolinski (in picture) and started operations in Romania in 2007, when it started investing in new residential units in Bucharest. At the end of 2011, the Canadian company announced the purchase of 64 apartments within the Cosmopolis residential complex in Stefanestii de Jos, north of Bucharest. South African investment fund New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) has teamed up with Canadian Benevo Capital and CD Capital to develop new shopping center in Bucurestii Noi area in the capital city, namely Victoria City Center. The new shopping center will have a total area of 52,000 sqm. It will include a 4,500 sqm food anchor- the first in Bucharest-, over 32,000 sqm for local and international fashion and related tenants, and a 8,000 sqm area for cinemas, restaurants, bars and pubs and a health club. The announcement came in November 2011. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Benevo)