Two of TriGranit’s founding investors have bought assets from the company, including shopping centres, hotels and offices in Budapest and Bratislava, plus other projects under development
TriGranit Development Corporation, which is 50% owned by Canadian property company Trizec Canada, has sold its central European operating and development assets.
The operating portfolio has been bought by two of TriGranit’s founders: Sandor Demjan of Granit Polus and Canadian tycoon Peter Munk, who is also chairman of Trizec Properties, the US real estate investment trust, in which Trizec Canada holds a 40% stake. Invesco Real Estate Advisers had previously been linked with the deal.
The portfolio of standing investment includes Budapest shopping centres WestEnd City Centre and Polus Center, the WestEnd Hilton Hotel, also in the Hungarian capital and an office building in the city. The portfolio, estimated to be worth around €600m, also included a shopping centre and offices in Bratislava.
Other shareholders selling TriGranit property include Trizec Properties, AIG and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Trizec Canada sold its stake in TriGranit for $136m.
Demjan also acquired 70% of the properties being developed by TriGranit, with the other 30% being acquired by AIG and the EBRD. These projects include the Millenium City Center in Budapest and a building site in Bratislava.
TriGranit will use the proceeds of the sale to accelerate its development plans in the region. It plans to invest more than €3bn, half of which will be pumped into public-private partnerships.
In September 2000 TrizecHahn pulled out of plans to build 10 shopping and entertainment complexes across major European cities, at a cost of between $3bn and $4bn. TrizecHahn has since been split into the US Reit Trizec Properties and Trizec Canada, which owns the stake in Trizec Properties as well as the leasehold interest in Toronto’s CN Tower.
Trizec Canada sold its interest in Brandenburg business park, south of Berlin, last October for $24m. In December, it received $9m of costs from arbitration proceedings relating to the Westend Plaza project in Frankfurt.
