Monday, December 5, 2011

Bethel Finance: Aviv Arlon buys 6 US commercial centers

www.bethelfinance.com

Bethel Finance news:

Aviv Arlon Ltd. (TASE: AVLN), controlled by the Aviv family, Eyal Lev, and Ari and Iftach Alony, is continuing to expand its real estate investments in the US. Aviv Arlon has closed a deal to purchase six commercial centers that cover 110,000 of square meters of rental space. The $90 million acquisition was implemented by a subsidiary, of which Aviv Arlon has 50% ownership with a third party not connected to the company. The parties are searching for bank financing that would be used to finalize the deal.

Average occupancy at the commercial centers is 90%, and the net operating income (NOI) for them is $9.6 million. The NOI reflects a yield of 10.8% in relation to the purchase price.

Aviv Alron CEO Eyal Lev said, "This significant deal follows a separate acquisition of four commercial centers purchased in the last two years, and significantly increases the scope of our US activity. After completing the deal, overall activity in the US will reach 2.7 million square feet of rental space in ten commercial centers, which will provide a significant and fixed cash flow with potential for future improvements when the US economy recovers.

The centers that were purchased are: Hagerstown Shopping Center in Maryland, Medford Center in Oregon, Park Palace in California, Rivergate Station Shopping Center in Tennessee, Riverwalk Plaza in West Virginia, and The Center in California.

Aviv Alron mainly focuses on locating, purchasing, leasing, and improving income producing commercial centers in the US. Some of the commercial centers are owned by parties that have cash flow problems due to being over-leveraged and have trouble repaying debt. The company also acquires loans backed by a first lien on profit-producing commercial centers.

Aviv Arlon is also active in Serbia, where it is in the development and leasing stages of an open commercial center - the first of its kind in the country, in Pancevo, north of Belgrade. The company has built 14,500 square meters so far that it will rent to a wide variety of stores, most of which are European international chains, at a 96% occupancy rate. The company has begun construction of the fourth stage of the project, which will cover 5,000 square meters and is slated to open in the middle of 2012. Most of the space had already been rented even before construction began. Aviv Arlon is also developing a residential and commercial complex located in central Belgrade called Gardenia that covers 22,000 square meters.

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