KYIV. Nov 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – GLD Invest Group development company (Austria) is planning to focus on investing in agriculture in Ukraine instead of investing in real estate, according to managing partner of the company Lehr Clemens.
“We are interested in the agricultural business in Ukraine and the best of what is in Ukraine – agricultural land,” he said at the Eastern Europe and Asia Real Estate Forum n Kyiv.
According to him, GLD Invest Group remains somewhat interested in the real estate market. Until 2008, together with its financial partners, it has invested about $100 million in Ukraine.
“But the trouble is that external investors are more interested in the agricultural market, since it is export-oriented, unlike real estate,” the expert said.
He noted that foreign exchange fluctuations and the subsequent decline in rent rates for commercial premises in Ukraine had a significant influence on the investors’ choice in favoring other markets instead of real estate.
“Right now the rate is UAH 25 per $1, and it was UAH 8/$1. I do not know what the rate will be in a year or two. It is difficult to count,” Clemens said.
GLD Invest Group is an Austrian real estate development company headquartered in Kilb. It designs, builds and leases commercial real estate in Central and Eastern Europe.
Its representative offices are located in Vienna, Budapest (Hungary) and Kyiv.
