A message for the year ahead from Atterbury Europe CEO Henk Deist

Looking ahead to 2023 what will be the priorities for Atterbury Europe?

Our two biggest development opportunities are in Cluj Romania with the Iulius Group and Limassol Cyprus. It is key that we make significant progress with these projects in the areas of obtaining the relevant development rights and bank finance. Another focus will be to complete the restructure of our holding company capital structure.

What are the biggest challenges you foresee contending with, and do you already have an idea of how you will approach it?

We face a substantially increased bank interest bill compared to 2022. We’ll fund it via contractual rental escalations of around 9% for 2023 which tenants in turn will be able to afford to the extent they are able to increase their prices – in the end all boiling down to the resilience of the end consumer. In 2022 we entered into interest-rate hedging instruments in all our jurisdictions to manage the interest-rate risk – so we are ready for the challenge.

What are you personally most excited about for 2023?

To have the opportunities we have in a “downcycle” is exciting to me – because in such times we have a big focus on lowering costs – operational and for developments. During Covid we reduced operational costs substantially and now we’ll focus on saving energy in a big way through solar and other energy-reduction initiatives. These savings are “permanent” and when things turn (and they will), we will be more resilient than ever before. I am looking forward to the big indicators of inflation and energy costs turning for the better towards the second half of 2023.

Which territory do you see as the one with the most potential for medium to long-term growth?

I’ve said it before, and there’s no change in my view here – definitely Romania. We have strong partners there and we have the potential to expand to other property sectors such as residential and industrial.

What is your message for the team, and the extended Atterbury Europe family?

Fasten your seat belts, put your seat in the upright position and open your window blinds. Here we go, we are ready!