Business Review

French retailer Carrefour has reported sales of EUR 270 million in Romania in the third quarter of this year. In the first nine months of the year sales stood at EUR 804 million, 5.3 percent lower on a like-for-like basis.

Green City has finished construction of the 146 houses in the second phase of the project. Around a third of the properties have been sold, while 60 percent of the 356 homes in the first phase of the project have been bought. Green City currently has another 150 houses under construction, and the total investment in the project is EUR 40 million.

Cefin has relocated its activity for the west of the country, which covers Timisoara and Arad, to a new headquarters in Arad. The firm has shifted to a new location in the Micalaca Est industrial area. The new site has a larger service area on a 400-sqm surface, with six service points, increasing the company’s overall servicing capacity.

Fashion House Development, part of developer Liebrecht & wooD, has started construction works at an outlet center in Serbia. The center, called Fashion House Outlet Center Indjija, is a EUR 30 million investment and is expected to open at the beginning of 2011.

Gefco Romania has taken over the organization of transport operations of Kiabi from the retailer’s consolidation center in Lille, France to the Gefco warehouse in Bucharest.

The local subsidiary of Swiss healthcare company Novartis has decided to relocate its Romanian offices to Polona 68 Business Center, announced the Advisers/Knight Frank, the exclusive agent representing the company in the transaction.

Central and Eastern Europe attracted EUR 1.5 billion in property investment in the third quarter of this year, a survey by CB Richard Ellis has found. This is the largest growth in Europe at this time. Compared to the previous quarter, the growth is approximately 60 percent, while against the same period of 2009 it is 119 percent.

Rockefeller Group International (RGI) has acquired a majority interest in Europa Capital LLP, a London-based European real estate fund management group which owns properties in Romania as well.

The Cocor store, which reopened last week following an investment of EUR 25 million, saw traffic of over 20,000 visitors, store representatives announced. The opening day attracted 10,500 shoppers. Reconstruction works on the store started in 2008.

UK-based developer Willbrook Management International WMI was awarded eight distinctions at the International Property Awards event.