Adams Regulatory News (ADA)

30 Sep 2005 07:00

Dawnay, Day Carpathian PLC30 September 2005 DAWNAY, DAY CARPATHIAN PLC 30 September 2005 Dawnay, Day Carpathian announces first transaction: purchase of four Shopping Centres for €64.5 million, Poland Dawnay, Day Carpathian PLC ("DDC" or "the Company"), the retail commercialproperty investment company established to invest in Central and Eastern Europe,is pleased to announce it has completed its first transaction, the purchase offour shopping centres in Poland for €64.5 million. The Company recently listedon the AIM market in July 2005 and raised new funds to create a geared €1billionportfolio of retail properties. The four shopping centres included in the transaction are the Tulipan Centre inLodz, Osowa in Gdansk, Kometa in Torun and Centrum Sosnowiec in Sosnowiec. Allthe centres are highly accessible by car and public transport, and compriseretail space and also have anchor stores owned by Geant Hypermarkets. The mallretail area acquired totals 26,678 sq m; the Geant anchors amount to 57,685 sqm. The net initial yield is approximately 8%. The centres also benefit fromhaving adjacent plots of land, currently shared with Geant, which may presentpotential to increase the retail offering of the centres. Commenting on this announcement, Peter Klimt of Dawnay, Day Carpathian said:"This is the first of a series of property transactions that we will completeover the next 16 months. Our aim is for the fund to be fully invested by the endof 2006. This transaction reflects the Group's strategy to invest in retailproperty serving a large established catchment area." DDC was created to invest in commercial retail properties such as shoppingcentres, supermarkets and retail warehousing in several target countries inCentral and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,Romania, and Slovakia. DDC will seek to deliver to investors an annual dividend yield in excess of 10%on fully invested funds and a total investor compound return in excess of 25%per annum on funds invested. Enquiries: Dawnay, Day Carpathian PLC Peter Klimt 020 7834 8060 Paul RogersCardew Group Tim Robertson 020 7930 0777 Catherine Maitland Notes: Tulipan was opened in 1999 and comprises 9,639 sq m of retail space and 22,000sq m of hypermarket space owned by Geant. The centre benefits from a corecatchment of circa 170,000. Osowa was opened in 1998 and enjoys a highly accessible location, with arelatively affluent and growing catchment area of 130,000 people. The centreincludes the only Geant hypermarket (15,000 sq m) in the town, and comprises12,916 sq m of retail space. Kometa, opened in 1999, is located in the North of Torun and comprises ahypermarket (10,960 sq m) and 1,962 sq m of retail space. It is easilyaccessible by car and is well served by public transport. The newest of the centres, Centrum Sosnowiec, was opened in 2001 and is highlyaccessible via car, bus and tram for the 585,000 people who live within a tenminute drive of the centre. It comprises 2,161 sq m of retail space and 9,725 sqm of hypermarket space. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange