The owners of Mall of Sofia, private equity and property company Quinlan Private and GE Real Estate, Monday announced the purchase of the Mall of Plovdiv shopping center in Bulgaria, reports news agency Dow Jones
Dow Jones said no price was disclosed but a person familiar with the situation told the news agency the shopping center was sold for 100 mln euro.

Bulgarian company MO Plovdiv, which owns the mall in the city of Plovdiv, confirmed the transaction.
The Quinlan/GE joint venture initially acquires half of the MO Plovdiv capital and will increase their stake to 100% after the scheme is completed.

According to Israeli news outlet Globes, Ocif Investments and Development Ltd. and Rilon Ltd. have sold their holdings in MO Plovdiv at a value of 58 mln euro. Ocif owns 30% of and Rilon owns 10%.
The remaining MO Plovdiv equity is held by Dutch-registered IT Sofia (30%), Danmar Bulgaria (20.35%) and Chentro Plovdiv (9.65%).

Sources from the Bulgarian office of MO Plovdiv said the disposals made by all shareholders were proportionate to their equity holdings and added up to 50%.
At the time when Mall of Plovdiv was launched in late 2006, the investors said it will cost 40 mln euro.
The project is at the foundation excavation stage. A building contractor is being selected.
The retail center, due for launch in late 2008, will have a built-up area of 45,000 sq m on one underground and 3 above-ground levels.

According to Dow Jones, more than half the available space has already been let to retailers including Piccadilly supermarket and electronics store Technomarket. Israel's Cinema City will have 11 theaters in the complex.
Colliers International, which has the exclusive agency contract, said occupancy is actually at 70% with the average rent at 23 euro/sq m

Peter Donnelly, partner for central and eastern Europe at Quinlan Private, told Dow Jones, 'we expect this asset to be a direct beneficiary of EU accession, continuing foreign direct investment and accelerating structural fund spend. Our objective is to continue to identify and acquire similarly attractive assets for our investor group.'(Dnevnik)