Private equity firm Equest Investment Balkans has sealed a EUR 101.5mn deal for selling out one of Bulgaria’s largest retail facility City Centre Sofia to US fund Heitman European Property Partners III. The share transfer is to be finalised in November after the approval of the local antitrust agency. Equest paid EUR 94mn for taking over the newly built City Centre Sofia from a local investor in 2006. Heitman is reportedly interested in acquiring another trade centre in the city of Stara Zagora . Equest will use about 60% of the proceeds for refinancing a mortgage loan. After a series of acquisitions in the region, the private equity firm has faced serious liquidity problems as the huge stock price corrections on the global markets have limited its capacity to raise capital on the London Stock Exchange. Earlier in the year, Equest decided to sell the former hotel Serdika (to be transformed into a trade centre for EUR 64mn) to Uniqa Real Estate, the property investment arm of Austria ’s insurance company Uniqa. The local portfolio of Equest includes real estates, financial companies, retail stores, and many other businesses, including a 33.5% stake in the EUR 800mn ski project Super Borovets. Equest also contemplates a sell-out of its waste collection business in the capital city of Sofia in a bid to step up its cash flows.