Quinlan Private, the international property and private equity investment group, has announced that it will form a 50/50 joint-venture partnership with Hungarian real estate development co
Quinlan Private, the international property and private equity investment group, has announced that it will form a 50/50 joint-venture partnership with Hungarian real estate development company, SCD Group, to lead a significant real-estate development programme at Lake Balaton in Hungary.
The investment programme, which is valued at approximately EUR450m, will be led by SCD and QP’s development arm in central and eastern Europe, Quinlan Private Golub Lake Balaton Development.
Lake Balaton is located in the western half of Hungary, south-west of Budapest, and is Europe’s largest lake. The lake is a popular tourist destination and SCD has identified a development opportunity for tourism and residential properties on Lake Balaton.
QPG and SCD will develop a 178 hectare landbank around the lake. This landbank comprises 21 separate development sites and the investment programme will primarily focus on developing hotels, leisure parks and other tourism related and residential properties. The entire investment programme is expected to take seven years, and will commence in 2008.
Gellért Jászai, SCD chairman, comments, ‘In January 2007, we identified the need to bring on board a significant joint-venture partner to lead the Lake Balaton project with SCD. We are delighted today to announce our partnership with Quinlan Private and its development arm, Quinlan Private Golub.
He adds, ‘Both Quinlan Private and Quinlan Private Golub have unparalleled expertise in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Their assets include the Gresham Palace in Budapest, the Four Seasons and Yasmin Hotels in Prague, the Maybourne Hotel Group in London, 47 four and five-star Marriott hotels in the UK and the Jurys Inns chain in Ireland and the UK. Their expertise will build on the skill-set and reputation that SCD has developed over the past seven years as one of the leading real estate development and tourism companies in Hungary.’
Thomas Dowd, partner, Quinlan Private comments, ‘We are pleased to announce our joint-venture agreement with SCD Group who have rapidly established themselves as one of the leading real estate development firms in Hungary.
‘QP has strong track record of delivering superior returns and we believe that this project will again deliver an attractive return for our investor group.’
Peter Donnelly, partner, Quinlan Private concludes, ‘We have, through Quinlan Private Golub, an unparalleled footprint in the fast growing markets of central and eastern Europe.’
Quinlan Private is an international private equity and real estate group. Quinlan Private acts as a principal and adviser in originating, structuring, financing, developing and managing a diversified portfolio of assets. It has effective distribution capacity and partners with major international banking groups to place private equity in real estate investments. Total assets under management exceed EUR11.5 billion in Ireland, the UK, Western, Central and Eastern Europe and the US. These assets include hotels, shopping centres, commercial office blocks, residential developments and others. Quinlan Private has principal offices in Dublin, New York and London as well as in central and eastern Europe.
Quinlan Private Golub is one a real estate developer active in central and eastern Europe. The company is the full-service development arm of Quinlan Private. Quinlan Private Golub acts as a principal and adviser in originating, structuring, financing, developing and managing a diversified portfolio of assets.
QPG has a track record of successfully identifying and developing investment opportunities in the CEE region, particularly in the office, retail, mixed-use and residential sectors, and a reputation for high quality projects, which include the prestigious office buildings Warsaw Financial Center, IBC I & II, and Charles Square Center, shopping centres Forum in Gliwice and Mall of Sofia, and residential developments Sunny Hill in Prague and Oakland Park near Warsaw. The company has completed numerous prestigious projects in the CEE region and is currently developing, managing or leasing real estate with a total area of over 2.2 million m2.
Founded in 2000, SCD Group is one of the leading real estate development and tourism companies in Hungary. To date, SCD has developed a total of 181,500 sq m of residential, commercial and leisure properties with a total investment value of EUR210m. Developing three four-star wellness hotels and the largest aqua park, in the past four years SCD Group has become the leading hospitality development company in Hungary. SCD Group includes 24 affiliated companies with more than 1,200 employees.
