Globalworth is poised to acquire a majority stake in Polish commercial landlord, Griffin Premium RE (GPRE).
Griffin Premium RE (GPRE) announced on Wednesday that it has signed an investment agreement with a subsidiary of Globalworth. The agreement, subject to certain conditions, will allow Globalworth to acquire a minimum of 50.1% and up to 67.9% of GPRE's share capital.
GPRE is registered in the Netherlands and will retain its listing on Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company's €500 mln portfolio at end-H1 comprised six pure office buildings and three mixed-use high-street properties. The assets are located in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Lódz, Cracow and Katowice.
GPRE also announced on Wednesday that it is buying three office properties from Echo Polska Properties (EPP) for €160 mln. The office properties are West Gate in Wroclaw (pictured), Tryton Business House in Gdansk and A4 Business Park in Katowice. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of January 2018.
Both GPRE and EPP are initiatives of Warsaw-based Griffin Real Estate in association with other investors. EPP, like GPRE, are REIT-like vehicles registered in the Netherlands. EPP is listed in Johannesburg and is selling down its office holdings to focus on retail property. GPRE will continue to trade on Warsaw Stock Exchange following the investment by Globalworth.
Founded by Greek billionaire investor-developer Ioannis Papalekas in 2013, Globalworth has become the leading office investor in the Romanian real estate market. The company's €1 bn portfolio comprises of offices (80%) and light-industrial assets. Globalworth is listed on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange since 2013 and in 2017 issued its debut Eurobond on the Irish and Bucharest stock exchanges.
'We welcome Globalworth as a committed long-term strategic investor in our company. This is a defining moment in the development of GPRE as it provides a solid basis for future growth and value creation for our shareholders,' said Malgorzata Turek, chief executive officer at GPRE.
'We believe that the Polish market remains very attractive and look forward to leveraging Globalworth's experience and industry knowledge in our ambition to become the leading institutional office investor in Poland. The acquisition of a high-quality office portfolio from EPP, also announced today, represents a major step towards achieving this ambition.'
GPRE is the largest investment to date for Globalworth and its first transaction outside of the Romanian market. 'This expansion into Poland, the largest market in Central and Eastern Europe, is a pivotal development in Globalworth's strategy to establish itself as the region’s leading office investor,' said Dimitris Raptis, deputy CEO and chief investment officer at Globalworth.
'As previously stated, we have prioritised the Polish market as a core target for expansion due to its size, liquidity, strong fundamentals and depth of opportunities. Drawing on GPRE's strong experience and excellent reputation in the Polish market, we will continue to grow its portfolio in Poland as we strive to become the partner of choice for the wide variety of high-quality tenants looking to expand in the region,' Raptis added.
