The Real Estate Market is on a Roll: Erste Open-ended Real Estate Investment Fund Buys Futureal’s Office Building on Váci út Office Corridor
March 26, 2015
Budapest, March 26th, 2015 - After KPMG, Teva Hungary Zrt., Provident Financial Zrt., and Costa Coffee have all chosen the iconic Vision Towers office building. Having in a first stage purchased the Northern Tower of the building complex developed by Futureal on 23 500 square meters, Erste Real Estate Fund went on to buy the Southern Tower as well.
Owing to its unique architectural implementation, the ultramodern environment, and its optimal location, the Vision Towers office complex – which stands on the site of the former Hotel Volga – now operates with nearly full occupancy. During the development of the building in one of Budapest’s most sought-after business districts, on the corner of Váci út and Dózsa György út, Futureal placed great emphasis not only on the iconic architectural features, but also on the sustainability of the class “A” office building constructed in the second phase, thus acquiring the ‘excellent’ rating of the BREEAM certification system.
In addition to its outstanding location and unique appearance, the energy-saving building engineering solutions, the most advanced IT network available on the market, and the intelligent building control systems of Vision Towers have all contributed to making Futureal’s latest office building the first choice for major international companies as their headquarters in Budapest. „The Hungarian real estate market remains on a path of dynamic growth, which is underscored by the fact that shortly after its completion Vision Towers already operates with nearly full occupancy. International Audit and Consultancy company KPMG, multinational pharmaceutical company TEVA, international financial company Provident, as well as Costa Coffee have already honored us with their confidence and chosen the building we dreamed up as their home. The thriving cooperation with the district’s local government is also an enormous pleasure for us, their support has contributed greatly to the successful implementation of this project’ - said Gabor Futo, Futureal’s Founder and Co-owner.
„It goes to show the district’s competitiveness and capability to attract capital that one-third of the city’s investments are now concentrated in our district. As many as 200 000 square meters of commercial and service units were inaugurated between 2010 and 2014, and – with the acceptance of the district’s development program ‘Lendületben a XIII. kerület’ – we expect this progress to continue” – dr. József Tóth, Mayor of Budapest’s 13th district pointed out.
Balázs Pázmány, Chairman of the Board of Erste Asset Management Zrt. said the fact that the new wing of the Vision Towers office building was nearly fully leased played a prominent role in this transaction. Owing to the concluded long-term lease agreements with well-known, reliable tenants, the purchase of the new wing contributes to the favorable utilization of the assets of Erste Real Estate Fund, ensuring an appropriate return on the investment for their clients. The current net asset value of the Erste Real Estate Fund exceeds HUF 241 billion. The Erste Asset Management mainly invests the assets of the Fund in office and commercial purpose real estates and the property purchased so far accounts for nearly 45% of its portfolio. Regarding the other liquid assets of the Erste Real Estate Fund, the primary aim is to ensure sufficient liquidity while achieving the best possible return, so the Fund places its assets which are not yet invested in real estate on the interbank market and in government bonds with a maturity within a year.
