With not even a week into 2018, Ukraine’s leading private equity firm Dragon Capital receives a green light to sign two major real estate deals.
The Cyprus-based finance company was authorized by the Anti-Monopoly Committee on Jan. 2 to purchase top-class business center ECO Tower in Zaporizhya and Victoria Gardens shopping mall in Lviv. In both deals, Dragon Capital is allowed to purchase more than 50 percent of the shares, which would make it the controlling shareholder.
Victoria Gardens is one of the biggest shopping centers in western Ukraine. The mall’s three-tier building has a leasable area of 54,500 square meters with 160 shops. According to Ukraine’s state registry, Victoria Gardens is managed by-Lviv-based Phoenix Capital and owned by British real estate company Globcon Limited. It was opened in October 2016 with an initial value estimated at $110 million, according to JLL real estate services company.
Meanwhile, the 19-story-high ECO Tower in Zaporizhia, owned by the Ukrainian Commercial Real Estate company, is the city’s tallest building and the only A-class business center. The building’s ultimate owner is Conwert Immobilen UCFB real estate company, registered in Austria.
Less than two weeks ago Dragon Capital announced that it acquired logistics and industrial depots in Hostomel and Bucha, two cities west of Kyiv. The total value of the deals was not disclosed.
Back in September 2017, New Ukraine PE Holding, a member of the Dragon Capital group of companies, also completed the acquisition of Prime and Eurasia business centers in central Kyiv from the Kazakh-based BTA BANK.
Dragon Capital, founded in Kyiv in 2000, is now one of Ukraine’s leading investment and financial services companies. The company’s CEO is Czech-native Tomas Fiala who is also the president of the European Business Association.
Back on Dec. 18, 2017 Fiala expressed his disappointment with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko in failing to meet deadlines as the country has been falling short in economic growth and investment attractiveness.
