The Bank of Cyprus has achieved its 2025 real estate target months ahead of schedule, completing over €200 million in property sales within just a few weeks, including the largest transaction ever recorded in the Cypriot market.

As mentioned in Economy Today, the bank’s Real Estate Management Unit (REMU) recently finalised the high-profile sale of the Secret Valley resort in Paphos, formerly known as Venus Rock Golf Resort, for more than €130 million.

The property, which spans roughly five million square metres of prime coastal land, was REMU’s largest asset and had come under the bank’s control following the loan restructuring of the Aristo Developers group.

The buyer, Cyprus-based Columbia Group, concluded the deal after nearly four months of negotiations.

Columbia Group in Limassol is a diverse maritime and hospitality powerhouse operating under Schoeller Holdings, founded in 1978 by Heinrich Leopold Felix Schoeller, who remains its chairperson.

Its flagship, Columbia Shipmanagement, was also established in Cyprus that same year and, while based on the island, has since expanded its presence to Greece, Germany, Italy, Singapore, the Philippines, China, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Monaco, and the United Arab Emirates.

The company oversees technical, commercial, crewing, and newbuild supervision for more than 300 vessels globally, employing around 15,000 people and operating through a network of over 25 international offices.

Beyond shipping, the group’s hospitality portfolio includes Columbia hotels and resorts, most notably Columbia Beach Resort in Pissouri.

Its food and beverage division, Columbia Restaurants, founded in 1998, manages over 15 brands including PizzaExpress, Marzano, Columbia Beach, Columbia Sun, Pokéloha, 7Seas, and Columbia Confectionery across Cyprus.

Additionally, the group’s aviation branch, Skyside, offers private jet services and concierge support.

Altogether, Columbia Group employs between 14,000 and 17,000 people worldwide, delivering integrated solutions across maritime, hospitality, energy, logistics, offshore, aviation, and professional training.

The transaction is the largest ever recorded in the Cypriot real estate market, a scenario previously considered unlikely.

Around the same time, REMU also completed the €65 million sale of a 200,000 square metre plot in Geroskipou to a company linked to the international group Exness, according to Economy Today.

That land, previously acquired from the Leptos Group via a debt-for-asset swap, had until then been REMU’s most significant single disposal since its establishment in 2016.

Together, these two transactions have brought in over €200 million, placing the Bank of Cyprus ahead of its full-year divestment target.

According to the group’s Q1 2025 financial results, the goal was to reduce its portfolio of repossessed real estate (REOs) to approximately €0.5 billion by the end of the year.

At the close of March, REMU held €634m in property assets, already down from €836m the previous year.

By April, after the Exness sale, this figure had dropped to €575m.

Following the Secret Valley transaction, the portfolio is now expected to fall well below €500m, achieving the annual target early.

These sales are part of the Bank of Cyprus’ broader deleveraging strategy, aimed at freeing up capital, reducing risk-weighted assets, and focusing on core banking activities.

Since 2019, REMU has offloaded properties worth approximately €1.3bl, with sales peaking in the second quarter of 2025.

By contrast, sales in the first quarter reached just €22m, following €93m in the previous quarter.

However, Q1 still recorded a €2m profit from real estate sales, reversing the €4m loss in Q4 2024.

The bank’s strengthened capital position has supported these moves. At the end of March 2025, its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 19.9 per cent, while the Total Capital Adequacy Ratio reached 25 per cent, both comfortably above regulatory thresholds.

In parallel, non-performing loans continued to decline, with the NPL ratio dropping to 1.8 per cent of total loans.

Meanwhile, the group posted after-tax profits of €117m in Q1 and maintained a robust return on tangible equity (ROTE) of 18.3 per cent.