Like out of a 1970 cartoon, the wikileaks documents and the search for the wikileaks website has been non-violent and educational but the real knowledge is not in the wiki conspiracies or the troubles at the Spanish airports but the many undervalued opportunities available during this crisis time, especially in the Balkans. Countries such as Qatar have seen this trend and have taken the appropriate steps to seek investments at lower than expected values in Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Albania. Access to international services which have come to the forefront in the Balkans, such as PayPal which will open the services to Serbia, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia in 2011 or Western Union which is available in all countries in the Balkans, will help to increase business in the region. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) have all stepped up the pace for loans in the region even expanding their portfolio of available funds further.
This along with the UN predictions, the world economy will expand by 3.1 percent in 2011 and 3.5 percent in 2012 and other expert predictions that the Balkans will experience recovery during 2011, underlines that entrepreneurs needs to invest now in this region before the prices rise.
The economic crisis started hitting hard on all countries back in 2008. However, several economies, have already started to recever as early as mid 2009 such as Turkey.
It was made clear that most of the Balkan countries, according to an interview with Arrowtrak’s Executive Vice President, Manos Ioannidis, will see a boom in Investments, both from the state sector, as well as from the private sector in 2011. Arrowtrak (www.atbalkans.com) is a Balkan based company active in M&A as well as investments in the Balkan region. Mr. Ioannidis continued to say that “Large scale Infrastructure works are in line, with many large energy projects such as Bulgaria Belene NPP and Turkey’s NPP with Russia, coming to fruition as well as many road projects including the notable Corridor X in Serbia and FYROM, Montenegro Highway, etc.”
With all the new projects and the forecast by experts that the Balkans will start its recovery in 2011, it is prime time to invest. The activity in the private sector has recently showed an increase in merger and acquisition transactions as well as restarting of real estate developments purchased before the crisis. Experts believe that real estate will be the first sector to benefit, however it is also understood that the window of opportunity is narrow, as the prices are expected to rise. Therefore, the benefit of the favorable parity between selling price and yield of each individual property will be lost.
In a recent poll conducted by Arrowtrak of businesses in the region, 37% are considering expanding into the Balkans, investing or creating a joint venture within the next year. The most apparent obstacle for most businesses is capital which creates an opportunity for investors to step in.
“We have been able to secure many listings lately of lucrative opportunities in the Balkans which are selling below value such as a multiple branch profitable domestic bank. There are numerous opportunities for investing on the promising food sector with modern factories, having a long presence in the market and suffering from the consequences of the global recession, are for sale in very attractive prices and a bright future. Arrowtrak Consultants atbalkans.com mentioned a list of such companies including meat processing plants, wine & brandy production facility, coal, tourist resorts with casino, chocolate and candy factories well established in the local and International market and let’s not forget the energy sector with readily available projects in solar, wind and hydropower. The real estate sector is also promising and offers great yields. For example a recent listing we have of a super market chain that is willing to sell their properties and lease them back for a yield of over 12 pct as well as modern office buildings, fully leased to offered with yields of over 10 pct but we do not feel this will last for long. As the economy starts to turnaround so will these deals but not at the same price and undervaluation”, adds Manos Ioannidis of Arrowtrak (www.atbalkans.com).
Opportunities in the region do not stop with energy, real estate, and businesses, but opportunities exist in gold and other precious metal explorations. There are mines in the Balkans which were producing before WW2 but stopped shortly after. These mines can be re-excavated.
The global economy is recovering, but will do so at a slower pace in 2011. That’s according to the “Global Economic Forecast: World Recovery Falters” recently released by the economic center at the University of Hawaii.
In the Balkans, the most activity sector in investment is in energy and the most active country is Turkey.
The air of optimism is blowing in the Balkans, and the smart money is already taking advantage of this unique situation before the window of opportunity is narrow.
Source:Balkans.com
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