However, neither Don-Stroi nor DS Development, its commercial real estate subsidiary, confirmed the information. Don-Stroi’s spokesman told The Moscow Times: “from the legal point-of-view I cannot confirm [whether DS Development is the owner of the assets it develops]”.
Sberbank was previously reported to be in the process of taking over DS Development, as part of restructuring. Don-Stroi’s spokesman reiterated that DS Development is in “final stage talks” with Sberbank and that Sberbank and DS Development’s relationship is of “a complex character”.
In its report, Vedomosti said Nordstar Tower had been acquired by Sberbank for $350 million. “This would be a very profitable price for this asset – one of the best available at the moment… but it is hard to say whether such a deal has been made. It seems unlikely if you remember what the bank said about not wanting to acquire [collateralized] assets and also how it acted over Capital City,” said Irina Florova, head of analytics at CB Richard Ellis in Moscow. “Yet [if true], this could be a symptom of things to come this year among developers.”
New tenants for the 42-story Class A building, located on the third transport ring road near Begovaya metro station, include energy company TNK-BP and Deutche Bank, which signed a contract with DS-Development earlier this month to rent over 7,000 square meters for seven years. “I don’t think the clients will be affected by this in any case,” added Florova, “all sides promise rental conditions will be met.”
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