GTC close to selling two remaining malls in Romania

Real estate developer Globe Trade Centre (GTC) has signed preliminary agreements to sell its two remaining shopping malls in Romania, Galleria Arad and Galleria Piatra Neamt. The developer, owned by American Lone Star, has decided to focus on offices, and has thus unloaded retail assets across Romania. The two remaining malls are largely unoccupied and have seen a constant drop in revenues. GTC made some EUR 500,000 in rents from the two malls in the first 3 months of 2016, 41% below the same period of 2015. The two assets are on sale together with a plot in Poland, all three worth some EUR 11 million and all under preliminary sales agreements, according to a GTC report, cited by local Capital.ro. End-2015, the two Romanian malls were evaluated at EUR 3.9 million. The developer has unpaid loans for both properties: EUR 5 million for the Piatra Neamt mall, and EUR 27 million for the Arad one, both to EBRD and Raiffeisen Bank. GTC has also sold its Galleria malls in Suceava and Buzau. The company fully owns the City Gate offices in Bucharest. Earlier this year, GTC bought Premium Plaza and Premium Point offices in Bucharest. editor@romania-insider.com