Universal Life buys IMC

THE UNIVERSAL Life insurance firm has bought up the International Merchandising Centre (IMC) building outside Nicosia for a reported £15 million.

The deal will not affect the Stock Market’s relocation to the massive IMC building or the rental terms agreed for the move.

The IMC never took off as a marketing venture but the building is considered ideal for the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE).

The exchange has been housed in its current location for over three years but rapid expansion coupled with an upsurge in market fever has seen speculator activity the bourse mushroom in the past 12 months. Brokers, investors and a daily stream of media crews who crowd into the CSE building in central Nicosia frequently complain about the lack of space prompting bourse authorities to seek an alternative.

The IMC was opened in 1997 ostensibly as a central location for buyers from countries in the region to purchase goods wholesale at a one-stop shop.

The £30 million building has four floors and comprises 22,000 square metres of exhibition and administration facilities divided into dozens of units plus 25,000 square metres of bonded warehouse. It is also already computer networked.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.