MEINL European Land, the third- largest Austrian developer, saw first-quarter profit fall as gains in the value of the company's real estate in central and eastern Europe weren't repeated.

Net income fell to 4 million euros (US$6 million), or 1.4 cents a share, from 54 million euros, or 19.6 cents, a year earlier, the Vienna-based company said on Friday.

Meinl may start selling supermarkets and other assets in countries including the Czech Republic to focus on more profitable investments in other markets, the company said last month.

Israel's Gazit Globe and Citigroup agreed in March to invest as much as 1 billion euros (US$1.6 billion) in the Austrian developer, Bloomberg News said.

Rental income rose to 33.4 million euros from 30.8 million euros a year earlier. About half of the company's assets are in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Meinl rose 33 cents, or 4.1 percent, to 8.46 euros in Vienna, paring the decline in the past year to 60 percent.

The company will change its name to Atrium European Real Estate once the transaction with Gazit Globe and Citigroup is concluded, according to a separate statement.

Meinl owned offices and malls valued at 1.9 billion euros at the end of the quarter.

The company has a development program costing 2.8 billion euros, on which it spent more than 100 million euros in the period.

Meinl said on May 12 that Rachel Lavine, an adviser to Gazit Globe on its investment, will take over as chief executive subject to approval by regulators in Jersey, where the company is registered.

Austrian regulators last year fined Meinl Land and Meinl Bank for possibly misleading investors about the size and timing of a 1.8 billion-euro stock repurchase and the risks of investing in the company.