The Swedes are leaving St. Petersburg – Newspaper Kommersant No. 187 (7388) of 10.10.2022
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The Swedish developer Bonava, which announced its withdrawal from the Russian market after the start of a military special operation in Ukraine, managed to find a buyer for its local business. They became the Kazan G-Group, which includes Unistroy. The company is ready to pay almost 6 billion rubles for the assets. with discount. However, experts consider the size of the discount to be insufficient due to the need to prepare sites for construction and reduce housing sales during the crisis.
The Kazan G-Group has agreed to buy the assets of the Swedish Bonava in Russia for €98 million (5.9 billion rubles at the current exchange rate), representatives of the parties said. As specified in the G-Group, the deal is planned to be closed after approval by the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the government commission. Bonava built housing in St. Petersburg. According to Rusland SP, the company’s land bank in the city is 12.7 hectares, where it is possible to build about 160 thousand square meters. m.
The G-Group includes the Unistroy construction company and UD Group, which manages retail and office real estate. The main business of the developer is concentrated in Kazan; his portfolio also includes projects in Ufa, Tolyatti and Perm. Under construction, G-Group, according to its own data, has more than 240 thousand square meters. m of housing, and its land bank exceeds 2.6 million square meters. m. The group’s revenue in 2021 amounted to 20.8 billion rubles, net profit – 4.6 billion rubles. Its owner is the Cypriot Hansolo Ltd, which belongs to the family of Rashit Gilfanov.
The decision to leave Russia in Bonava was explained by geopolitical reasons. In March, the developer announced the termination of work in the country due to the military conflict in Ukraine, after which he began to search for buyers for his business. As Kommersant previously reported, LSR, Setl Group, RBI, GloraX showed interest in Bonava’s assets. In the first half of 2022, Bonava’s revenue in St. Petersburg amounted to SEK 282 million (RUB 1.6 billion), operating profit was SEK 74 million (RUB 411 million). The major owner of the developer is the Swedish investment company Nordstjernan. Closing business in the Russian Federation will lead to company expenses of up to 300 million Swedish kronor (about 1.7 billion rubles).
The deal with G-Group was concluded at a market price, but lower than the original offer, says Andrey Boykov, managing partner of Rusland SP. The announced amount means a discount of about 20%, which seems insufficient against the background of current risks, Alexey Fedorov, director of the Maris real estate investment department, is sure.
G-Group already has projects in the St. Petersburg market: the developer is building a residential complex in the Krasnogvardeisky district and owns the rights to 105 hectares in Sestroretsk. Buying assets of a strong brand for G-Group is more profitable than building your portfolio from scratch, says Andrey Kosarev, CEO of Nikoliers in St. Petersburg. The Bonava sites turned out to be less interesting to local developers, since it will take a year or two to prepare them for development, a Kommersant source in the residential construction market notes.
Despite the crisis, small and medium-sized developers are not yet in a hurry to sell their business, but with a further scenario of falling sales and market stagnation, the number of such proposals will grow, Mr. Kosarev expects. Deals can be expected only if demand for housing recovers and conditions for bridge lending from banks improve, he does not exclude.
A decrease in investment activity is also taking place in the land market. Demand for residential construction sites in St. Petersburg in the first half of the year fell 2.5 times year-on-year, to 105.6 hectares, Andrey Boykov calculated. According to him, the problem is rather high risks and a short planning horizon.
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