Sparkassen Immobilien, the real estate arm of Austria's Erste Bank, plans to invest up to 300 million euro in Bulgaria over the next two to three years, Friedrich Wahernig, member of Sparkassen Immobilien board of directors said on June 11. Its focus in the medium-term would be office and retail space.

Additionally, Sparkassen Immobilien has remained keen on financing real estate projects in the region, Wahernig said. The company plans to divest of real estate investments in Western Europe and invest in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria included.

The company has remained the leader on Bulgaria's real estate leasing market with a market share of 36 per cent as of end-2007, Immorent Bulgaria, which represents Sparkassen Immobilien in Bulgaria, said in a June 10 statement.

In 2007, the company struck leasing contracts worth 31.7 million euro, the statement reads. Its total leasing contracts portfolio is worth 180 million euro.

Presently, the company's Bulgarian portfolio includes a stake in Serdika Center, a mixed-use complex worth 210 million euro and to house both office and retail space. The company is building the project in partnership with Hamburg-based ECE Projektmanagement, whereas developer would be Kayi of Turkey.

The company, alongside Immorent Bulgaria, will be developing an office building on Washington Street in Sofia in what would be a 7.2 million euro investment. Yet another similar development is due to get underway on Todor Alexandrov street, again in Sofia.

A third project, to shortly be underway, is a residential complex in Sofia's Simeonovo neighbourhood. The total value of the project is seen at 28.4 million euro.

Among the landmark projects lease-financed by Sparkassen Immobilien and Immorent Bulgaria are the production facility of Yazaki of Japan in Yambol, the mixed use building of Rotoprint, Class A office building in Sofia, and the four-star spa hotel Astrea.

Sparkassen Immobilien, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, has been active on the real estate market for 20 years. The company is focusing on long-term investments in residential, administrative and commercial buildings and hotels in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. As of March 31 2007, the portfolio of the company was valued at 1.6 billion euro with total lettable area of 1.4 million sq m.