CEE specialist Magnat refocuses on German commercial market
The Frankfurt-listed Magnat Real Estate AG, primarily known for its opportunistic investing in eastern European property markets, said earlier this month that it was significantly shifting its business focus away from Austria and further east, in favour of the German commercial sector.
Magnat, which has strong personal and managerial connections with Austria, said it sold the last residential units and its asset management interests in its building schemes in Vienna, and said it was not planning to make further new investment in the country. Traditionally, Magnat has had a ‘develop and sell’ trading approach, supplemented by portfolio trading, frequently ‘anti-cyclical investing’ in markets such as the Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia and Romania.. The new focus will be on Germany and commercial properties for German small and medium-sized enterprises. The company is also to be renamed DEMIRE Deutsche Mittelstand Real Estate AG to reflect its new interests.
The company has liabilities of about €22.3m (31st December 2013), less the reduction of liabilities of €2.8m following the Viennese sale. Commenting on the move to what looks likely to be a less complex corporate structure, Magnat’s CEO Andreas Steyer said, “We have now sold off all of our business activities in Austria at a good profit, and are now focusing squarely on German SMEs. This also entails significantly lower costs and a clear company structure.”