Carrefour's property arm Carmila launches capital increase

PARIS, June 25 (Reuters) – Camila, the assets unit of Europe’s largest retailer Carrefour, introduced on Sunday a capital growth of 557 million euros ($623.5 million) to fund its destiny expansion. The agency stated the capital growth would be priced in an indicative variety of between 23 euros and 27 euros, consistent with a percentage against a remaining rate of 30.50 euros for Carmella stocks on June 23. The length of the capital growth may be expanded to around 632 million euros in case of the over-allotment option’s full exercise, the announcement said. The circulate follows the merger in advance this month of Carmilla with Carty, a listed assets unit also owned by Carrefour.

The newly merged company has been buying and selling at the Paris inventory market below the Carmella name in view that June 14. It is the 1/3-largest listed European retail property institution with a portfolio inclusive of 205 shopping centers in France, Spain, and Italy and property worth five. Four billion euros. The capital boom intends to fund the organization’s 2017-2020 development plan, including 37 extension initiatives, centered acquisitions, and the deployment of a virtual advertising approach geared toward assisting shops in increasing revenues. Outgoing Carrefour CEO Georges Plassat spearheaded the introduction of Carmilla in April 2014 as part of his strategy to revive the group’s European hypermarkets by making them more attractive for customers. ($1 = zero.8933 euros) (Reporting using Dominique Vidalon; Editing through Adrian Croft)

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Buying a Property in Romania – Real Estate Law in Romania

If you are looking to buy a holiday or second home or invest in Romania, Transylvania, or at the Black Sea and you are a foreign citizen/investor; there are few aspects you should know about the procedure and the costs for the acquisition of Romanian land or Romanian houses. After 2012, foreign citizens EU citizens (non-Romanian) may purchase a home or apartment in Romania may freely buy and sell any Romanian property without restrictions. Along with the selling price for the property, buying real estate in Romania has other costs.

If you have chosen to collaborate with a Romanian real estate agent/ broker you can expect to have an additional commission of approximately 2-4% of the price of the property. The local tax will be 2-4% of the price of the property. The signing of a contract must be witnessed by a public notary who submits it for certification by the Land Registry in charge of real estate records. The fees for the Romanian public notary are about 0.5-1% of the purchase price. You will also have to pay fees to the Land Registry (“Carter Funciara”) to register the Transfer Deed. The Romanian Land Registry Fee for a property purchase will vary from 1-3% according to the length of time that the seller had owned the property and the property’s value.

The Romanian law on property states that Citizens of EU member states, legal persons incorporated in the EU member states, and stateless people domiciled in an EU member state can purchase land in Romania only if the land is used for secondary residences or secondary headquarters after a 5 (five) years term from the accession of Romania to the EU (starting with January 1st, 2012); only for the agricultural land and forest land 7 (seven) years term from the accession of Romania to the EU ( starting with January 1st, 2014).

But for the Citizens, legal persons, and stateless people not from an EU member state, the Romanian legal system establishes that they can purchase land in Romania, under the conditions of international treaties between Romania and the states of origin of these persons, under a reciprocity basis. From our perspective, a prudent investor will hire a Romanian lawyer/ a Romanian Law Office, who will liaise closely with the notary on verifying the title, obtaining the Land Registry excerpt, and drafting the agreement for the transfer of ownership of the real estate. This means that the Romanian lawyer will be solely acting for and is responsible to their client. In contrast, the notary will not have the same degree of responsibility to the purchaser. Under Romanian law, there are three basic rights to land and buildings as the right of ownership; usage rights as lease, usufruct, superficies; concession right. The principle of contractual liberty represents the key core of property law in Romania.

Sometimes, an investor/purchaser can opt for closing a pre-sale agreement. The seller undertakes to transfer ownership to the buyer at a certain date in exchange for an agreed consideration. The pre-sale contract’s content will stipulate all commercial and legal conditions for the transfer of ownership as conditions precedent to the final transfer of ownership. The closing of such a pre-contract for purchase does not mean the transfer of the property. Still, they stipulate binding obligations for the parties, regarding, for example, damages or penalties set out in them, if the seller refuses to sign the final notarized deed of transfer at the agreed deadline.

The closing of the pre-sale agreement is to protect the investor/buyer from any possible purchase to other buyers and to matters regarding the fixed price and duration of a future purchase. From our perspective, it is a must that the pre-sale agreement is concluded at a Public Notary and clearly stipulates the sale price and other clauses regarding the future purchase duration. In this case, it can be enforced in court on the buyer’s request as a deed to transfer ownership.

A sale agreement signed in Romania, according to the Romanian legislation, will mandatorily stipulate obligations of the parties for the fulfillment of the sale contract, delivery and quality conditions of goods and/or services, terms, payment methods, and payment guarantees, payment instruments, and price insurance, contractual risk, as well as a method of solving eventual litigations arising from the contract. Other required elements include the full name and identification details of the parties (for legal entities) and the name of the person signing the contract (representing a legal entity).