THE FIGHT for the most lucrative land in the capital is over. Centrade, which belongs to the private equity group Penta, has acquired it from the state-owned heating company Bratislavská Teplárenská for Sk1.2 billion (€35.4 million), the Nový Čas daily wrote.
Apart from Penta, three other giants of the real estate market - J&T, HBR Consulting linked with HB Reavis and Ballymore Real Estate - were interested in the 40,000 square metres of land close to the new building of the Slovak National Theatre (SND).
This part of Bratislava is enjoying a construction boom as Ballymore is building a modern city centre, Eurovea.
The heating company, controlled by the national privatisation agency, the National Property Fund, approved the sale of the excess real estate in June 2007.
The land bears an ecological burden, as it was contaminated with oil and other chemicals after the bombing of the Apollo refinery during the Second World War. Experts estimate costs for the land cleaning at millions of crowns.
Martin Danko, the spokesperson of Penta, refused to reveal the company's plans for the land.
