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Rockcastle clinches Polish deal

11 Feb 2015

Rockcastle Global Real Estate (ROC) has concluded its first acquisition in Poland‚ a fast-growing attractive economy which it has selected as a major component of its direct property strategy.

Rockcastle CEO Spiros Noussis. Image credit: Supplied by Rockcastle

The group made the announcement on releasing its results for the six months to December on Tuesday. Rockcastle said it would build a 16‚500m² mall in the town of Tomaszow Mazowiecki‚ situated 120km south of Poland's capital‚ Warsaw.

Rockcastle will hold an 85% stake in the development which is set to yield 9.5% on completion with a capital commitment of €25m. The other 15% will be held by a Polish company.

The group also raised $114m by the issue of 64.2-million shares through a private placement to fund future developments.

It believed Polish retail was one of the best retail markets to invest in‚ in Eastern Europe.

The retail story

"We like Poland. It is growing quickly. It has a relatively large middle class and we believe for the next few years the retail story there will be very strong. We are in fact bedding down another acquisition there soon after this one‚" CEO Spiro Noussis said.

Rockcastle used to buy into other property funds only but has spent the last year searching for property deals in Poland and Zambia.

Rockcastle's projects have involved developing malls. It launched Kafubu Mall in Ndola‚ Zambia last year. Mukuba Mall in Kitwe‚ Zambia is scheduled to open in April this year.

Makuba Mall will be anchored by Game‚ Pick n Pay‚ Shoprite and Woolworths‚ and will include all major national retailers.

Noussis said on Tuesday Kafubu was trading well and he was confident Mukuba would also start well.

"We will continue to benefit from the retail growth in Zambia. In Europe‚ we are focused on Poland‚" he said.

Rockcastle declared a dividend of 4.28 US cents per share for the reporting period.

This represented an increase of 5.2% over the comparable prior period's 4.07 US cents per share and was marginally ahead of the guidance of approximately 5%.

Source: BDpro

Source: I-Net Bridge

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