ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG Czech Republic

Warimpex announced the partial sale of its hotel portfolio to Thai investor U City Public Company Limited (U City). The transaction includes eight hotel participations – two of which are partially (50 per cent) owned by UBM Development AG (UBM) – which comprise approximately 50 percent of Warimpex's total real estate assets and which have a property value of approximately €180 million (excluding the stakes of UBM in that portfolio). 

The amount of industrial space leased in key Central and Eastern European markets in 2016 was the largest ever recorded, totalling 5.7 million sqm. This represents a 25% increase over the preceding two years when about 4.5 million sqm was leased. The strong take-up among tenants was linked with an extensive new development at 2.2 million sqm. The findings are based on the research conducted by Cushman & Wakefield, which has been monitoring the industrial property market in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia over an extended period.

Skanska Property Czech Republic is expanding its portfolio by completing the acquisition of a plot with a former car repair shop from M2 Real Estate Group, located in the Karlín area of Prague. Skanska plans to build a modern office building called Praga Studios on the property.

Peakside Capital has completed the acquisition of Argo Alpha, a Prague office building comprising 12,600 sqm of GLA. The transaction price has not been disclosed. 

Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2016. Hungary and the Czech Republic remain the most upbeat markets, with Bulgaria and Croatia also gaining momentum. In Romania the pace of growth seems to be slowing down, although sentiment and projections continue to be broadly positive.

Office tenants can look forward to a new supply of administrative space that is going to be delivered to the Prague market in 2017 and 2018. Last´s year paradox, when the economy was booming and the market registered a robust demand for new office space, but the amount of new completions dropped to a historical low, is forecast to be cleared out in the months to come. Currently, there are 330 000 sqm of new offices under construction in Prague out of which approximately half (171 000 sqm) is expected to be delivered this year. JLL looked at the largest office submarkets of the Czech capital in detail.

Arcona Capital, acting on behalf of the Jersey-based Belgravia European Fund, has completed the sale of the Fund’s residual industrial development site located in Chomutov, northern Bohemia, to VGP Group. The site, with planning permission for industrial use, is located next to the D7 motorway close to the town of Chomutov. 

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a long term acquisition facility, in a total amount of €108 million, to a company managed by CBRE Global Investors on behalf of a German separate account. The transaction closed in January 2017. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility. 

An industrial area, located in Prague – Horní Počernice has been sold by Carrier to a private investor. The property has a total area of 12,621 sqm. It consists of an administrative building, two warehouses and plots for parking and material manipulation. It features 4,822 sqm of covered premises and offers possible future development.

Total commercial real estate investment across CEE (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) reached €4.4bn in Q4 2016, a 27% increase on Q4 2015. This took full year volumes for 2016 to just over €11bn, an 11% increase on 2015 (€9.9bn), bucking the wider trend across Europe and on the continent where volumes shrank year-on-year. Cushman & Wakefield Czech Republic predicts a further growth of the region.