By carrying out the full acquisition of property development company Nafilyan & Partners well before the planned date, Immobel is strengthening its position in the French market. It is also confirming its desire to rapidly increase the expansion of its local property portfolio, working from its new bridgehead in Île-de-France.

The acquisition of the Parisian company was initially planned in three stages: the first, completed in December 2017, consisted of acquiring 15 % of the shares of the French company via a capital increase in its capital. “However, we recently jointly decided that the two remaining stages could be reduced to a single transaction in order to speed up the process”, explains Marnix Galle, who will take up the role of Chairman of Nafilyan while intensively pursuing the recruitment of a new Managing Director.

On Tuesday 2 July, Immobel therefore finalised the acquisition of the remaining shares (85 %) in the French developer. The new Chairman assures that he wishes to retain the expertise of virtually the entire management team currently in place and all its skills. He also states that the transaction concluded today in Paris should enable the Group to increase its consolidated annual turnover by more than 200 MEUR as of 2020.

Ideal bridgehead

“The early integration of Nafilyan confirms our desire to rapidly diversify our presence in the French market and to be active in it in residential development and office development, while using the capacity of our new subsidiary to create value and revitalise urban neighbourhoods”, explains Marnix Galle.

Immobel's new French subsidiary is a young property development company as it was founded in 2014. However, it now has over 70 employees and has quickly set the standard in the development of apartments and grouped individual houses. In 2018, the company sold no fewer than 822 housing units with a turnover of 170 MEUR. It also has an estimated land reserve of over 2,200 housing units.

In the Île-de-France office market, Immobel France’s portfolio now consists of four ongoing projects totalling 72,000 m², either purchased or in exclusivity.