ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG investment

HB Reavis has appointed George Leslie as its new Head of Investment Management. In this new role, Leslie will lead and grow HB Reavis’ Investment Management business and support the company’s international expansion plans. 

On 1 December 2016, international real estate developer HB Reavis and Savills Investment Management on behalf of a Global Pension Fund client, concluded the sale agreement of two of buildings within Gdanski Business Centre in Warsaw. In one of the largest transactions of the year in Poland and also in the CEE region amounting to €186 million, Savills Investment Management has acquired buildings A and B of the Gdanski Business Center, totalling 48,000 sqm.

CP:17 – Global, a U.S.-based non-traded REIT focused on investing in income-producing commercial properties and real estate-related assets, announced that it has completed the sale-leaseback of a cold-storage facility from Greenyard (formerly Greenyard Foods), one of the world’s largest fruit and vegetable suppliers. The 28,700 sqm (309,759 sq ft) facility is located just outside of Warsaw, Poland and was purchased for approximately €32 million. The proceeds from the 20-year triple-net lease will be used to pay down debt associated with the facility. 

Skanska Property Poland has signed an agreement on the rights of perpetual usufruct, a right granting long-term use of real estate, on the land plot near Rondo ONZ in the business centre of Warsaw. Currently, the Ilmet office building is located on this plot. In addition, the company has bought the Warsaw One project, which was designed by the previous owner. In the transaction process the seller was advised by Knight Frank.

Rockcastle Global Real Estate has acquired a retail portfolio totalling 62,000 sqm from Aviva Investors, worth €160 million. Cushman & Wakefield, Hogan Lovells, Arcadis and PwC represented the purchaser, JLL, Dentons and Deloitte advised the seller in the transaction. The portfolio comprises two shopping centres: Focus Mall Zielona Góra and Focus Mall Piotrków Trybunalski. Providing respectively 26,800 sqm and 35,200 sqm, they are the largest shopping galleries in Zielona Góra and Piotrków Trybunalski. 

During the Q1-Q3 2016 period total commercial real estate investment transaction volume reached €1.5 billion in Hungary, nearly double the 2015 total volume, a testimony to the sharp liquidity increase – according to JLL Hungary’s latest statistics.The outstanding performance of the market was backed by the strong market fundamentals and the growing investor appetite for the high yielding Hungarian assets. Approximately 45% of the volume was generated by the office asset class followed by retail (29%) and logistics (14%). The remaining deals included a mix of hotel assets and properties for redevelopment purposes.

Hammerson plc and its partners in VIA Outlets, APG, Meyer Bergman and Value Retail, have signed an agreement to acquire, subject to regulatory clearance, four outlet centres across Europe. The retail venues, located close to major cities in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Poland, represent total gross asset value of €587 million and a blended net initial yield of 5.5%.  The transaction takes the total size of the VIA Outlets portfolio to €1.1 billion across 10 assets.

Polish Enterprise Fund VI (PEF VI), a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors, has signed an agreement to sell 100% of shares in Profi Rom Food, the largest supermarket chain in Romania, to Mid Europa Partners, a private equity firm focused on buyouts in Central and Eastern Europe. The total equity value of the transaction is €533 million and the transaction is subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. This is the largest deal ever completed by a private equity fund in Romania and the largest retail deal in the country’s history. 

CTP continues expanding in Central Europe, with the recent acquisition of Westlog DC (Distribution Centre) 10 km from Budapest’s city centre. The park is situated west of the city, directly on the M1 motorway, near the junction of the main north-south M7 and the M0 ringroad.

GLL acquired the multi-purpose heritage building that combines retail-, office- and service functions on 13,750 sqm at Vörösmarty Square in downtown Budapest. The seller of the recently completed UNESCO World Heritage listed premium asset is Hungarian developer Horizon Development.  The property has been added to the portfolio of Bayerische Versorgungskammer and will be managed by Munich-based real estate fund manager group GLL Real Estate Partners.