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Some developers forecast that sales prices will increase in the future purely as a result of the zero-emission requirements currently being placed on buildings but there is no consensus as to what the ultimate effect will be. Robert David, Partner and Tomáš Kren, Senior Associate at Wolf Theiss’ Prague office talked to Property Forum about the increasingly important role ESG compliance plays in real estate transactions and potential regulatory changes that can affect the market.

Union Investment has sold the Maraton office building in Poznań, to a subsidiary of UNIQA Real Estate, the real estate company of the Austrian insurance company UNIQA Insurance Group AG. The building has been held by open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland since 2017. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Taking into account the mood and current investment activity, it would seem that the recession in global markets is only just developing. A clear slowdown in real estate transactions has been visible since mid-2022. Several factors contributed to it, including the increase in interest rates, uncertainty related to the geopolitical situation, the war in Ukraine, games between the USA, Taiwan and China, as well as the instability of government and economy in Great Britain and economic problems in China, claims Michał Ćwikliński, Principal, Managing Director – Poland at Avison Young. 

Recent data from Arnold Investments show that around €152 billion was transacted on the EU real estate investment markets in the first three quarters of 2022. Year-on-year, this represents a decline of around 4% due to a strong first quarter. However, investment activity slowed down sharply in the course of the year. At roughly 39 billion, the transaction volume for the third quarter was around 39% lower than in the previous year. The main EU investment markets analyzed show a significant decline in transaction volumes both over the course of the year and in the third quarter.

MDC2 has appointed Martin Healey, a senior global property executive, to its Board. He is a senior international real estate investment professional with almost 25 years of experience. Martin is the Managing Director of Real Assets, and a member of the Global Leadership Team of CPP Investments, a global investment management organization.

NEPI Rockcastle, through its subsidiary, has acquired all the issued shares in the Forum Gdańsk shopping centre from a company ultimately owned by Blackstone-managed funds. The transaction encompassed the repayment of all the asset’s outstanding debt. Forum Gdańsk is a 63,500 sqm GLA shopping centre, situated in Gdańsk, the sixth largest city in Poland by population, with over 470,000 inhabitants.

Berlin-based property developer firm Bauwert AG is entering a strategic partnership with Hungary’s Wing Group, as well as international investment & asset manager Griffin Capital Partners. For this purpose, the three companies signed an agreement under which Wing and Griffin will together acquire 60% of Bauwert’s shares. The remaining 40% will be kept in the ownership of the existing shareholders. Wing Group will have a controlling interest in the company.

Immofinanz is acquiring 17,305,012 shares in S Immo AG from its core shareholder, CPI Property Group, thus obtaining a controlling stake in S Immo of 50% plus one share. The purchase price amounts to €337.5 million or €19.5 per S Immo share. The transaction will be financed through a long-term credit facility provided to Immofinanz by CPIPG. The share purchase agreement was signed on 19 December 2022. The closing of the transaction will take place before the end of 2022. Consequently, Immofinanz will fully consolidate S Immo in the 2022 annual financial statements.

Portiva Group, with a portfolio of wind and solar parks with a total capacity of 30 megawatts, is set to build more solar farms in the Czech Republic. Although its focus in recent years has been on real estate and IT, the company now sees the time as opportune for investment in photovoltaic parks. It plans to build at least three, reports Hn.cz.

Czech real estate fund Investika has decided to take another step in diversifying its real estate portfolio. Its latest acquisitions are luxury properties in Croatia for short-term rentals.