FGH Real Estate
International Activities
and all contacts directed at acquisitioning would be taken care of through
a network of offices in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague, Utrecht and
Zwolle.
The amount of time spent on debtors in difficulty fortunately decreased
although not all the problems dating from the end of the seventies have
been solved. Even though we prefer to work out gradual solutions to
forcing the issue, auctions were unavoidable in 308 cases (367 in 1983).
We had to foreclose on 167 properties in 1984, compared with 224 in 1983.
A considerable number of sales transactions were concluded during the
year under review.
Regarding the project portfolio: completed this year were, among others,
a trade center with hotel and office facilities in Nieuwegein, of which both
the hotel and exhibition area are completely and the office space partially
rented, a service appartment complex which is to be sold in Rotterdam, an
office building located on the Koninginnegracht in The Hague, and a
pre-leased office building in Amsterdam.
Rental of the space available in the World Trade Center in Amsterdam is
doing well. We expect 70% of this space to be leased by the opening which
will take place some time during the second half of 1985. There has been
some controversy between FGH and the Algemeen Burgerlijk
Pensioenfonds, our partner in this project, about the transfer of part of our
interest in the project. We hope that this dispute will soon be solved.
A number of investment objects were transferred to a new company
recently started in cooperation with the Bredero-group.
Our policy for 1985 will continue to be directed at reducing the size of our
real estate interests.
We also plan to devote our attention to the development of small-scale
projects which will then be sold, as well as to contributing to the activities
of the financing business. In order to adjust to the more limited portfolio
that we have in mind, we have slimmed down and restructured our
organization.
Our financing activities abroad are developing well. Owing to the fact that
redemption payments on a number of large items were fulfilled, at the end
of the financial year the total amount in loans and guarantees outstanding
was lower than at the end of 1983 (1984: Dfl 519 million; 1983 Dfl 672
million).
The interest showed by institutional investors and syndicators in the USA
for, in particular, commercial real estate in the New York area, led to a rise
in prices. We benefited from this by disposing of the buildings in which
FGH had an interest, and which had been intended to be sold. In our
American portfolio, the emphasis has come to lay on financing business
ventures for third parties.
The financing portfolio in England doubled during the year under review.
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