Warimpex has secured €100m of refinancing for four Polish office properties, in what the Vienna-based property investor described as the largest financing transaction in its history, as improving debt market conditions help ease Europe’s real estate refinancing pressures.
The seven-year facility was arranged with Erste Group and two other Austrian financial institutions and covers 60,000m2 of office space across Łódź and Kraków.
The portfolio comprises Ogrodowa Office in Łódź and three buildings on Mogilska Street in Kraków – Mogilska 35, 41 and 43. All four properties have been redeveloped or revitalised by Warimpex, are fully let and hold sustainability certifications including BREEAM ‘Excellent’.
Warimpex CEO Franz Jurkowitsch said the financing demonstrated the quality of the company’s Polish portfolio and the confidence of Austrian lenders in the market.
The transaction comes against a backdrop of improving European real estate debt conditions. According to new research by AEW, the continent’s three-year forward-looking debt funding gap has fallen to €45bn for 2027-29, down from the €90bn estimated in 2023 for the 2026-28 period.
The reduction reflects the refinancing of many challenged loans originated before 2022, supported in part by back leverage. Outstanding back leverage has increased by 40% year-on-year to more than €50bn, helping bridge more than half of the previously identified funding gap.
However, AEW warned that refinancing conditions remain challenging. European five-year swap rates have risen by 100 basis points over the past year to 3.4%, while all-in borrowing costs reached 5.1% in Q3 2026, their highest level since AEW began tracking the measure. France faces the largest remaining funding gap at €12.6bn, while Germany has the highest non-performing loan ratio among major European markets, at 5.3%.
| Recently completed deals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Buyer | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Key facts |
| five office buildings in Riverside Karlín | office | Prague | Trinity Bank | CA Immo | 85,000m2 | ~€300 | The Czech portfolio comprises of an inner-city office campus set across five office buildings located in the Prague 8 submarket of Karlín. It includes Nile House, Amazon Court, Danube House, Mississippi House and Missouri Park. |
| logistics portfolio | logistics | Sweden | Hitachi Energy | Logistri | 103,000m2 | €125 (SEK1,382) | The project is one of Sweden’s largest new construction projects. |
| 13 Hanover Square | office | London | Chinese private family office | Lazari Investments | 34,720sqft | £100 (€120) | The asset is said to have sold for a 2.8% net initial yield. |
| The Globe | office | Manchester | Knight Frank Investment Management | Aviva Investors | 91,840sqft | £45 (€54) | The property is occupied by advertising group WPP. |
| University of the Arts academy school | mixed | London | NA | Unite | NA | £41 (€49) | The school is part of the group’s newly completed Hawthorne House development in London. |
| 8.2% of Logistea | corporate | Sweden | Nordika | Shareholders of Logistea | NA | €47 (SEK517) | After the deal, Nordika owns over 22% of Logistea, a Swedish listed real estate company with a focus on warehouses, logistics and light industry. |
| 179–191 Borough High Street | office | London | Iroko Zen | Darin Partners | 31,179sqft | €32 | The property is fully let to Kaplan Financial. |
| Project Galileo resi portfolio | living | Milan | Pictet Alternative Advisors and Kryalos | NA | 26,000m2 | NA | The portfolio comprises around 150 residential units, complemented by ground-floor retail space. |
| Weena 455-457 | office | Rotterdam | Flow Real Estate Development and Multi Corporation | Magnum Property | 22,000m2 | NA | The property formerly served as Unilever’s headquarters for many years and is currently largely vacant. |
| Qubes office property in Munich | office | Munich | ABG Real Estate, Hansemerkur Grundvermögen | Insolvent project company | 25,000m2 | NA | The property is entirely let to the information and telecommunications service center of the Bavarian state capital. |
| Hannemanns Hus | living | Copenhagen | Formuepleje | Urban Partners | 13,800m2 | NA | Urban Partners acquired the site from City & Port through NSF IV and took possession in October 2022. |
| four resi assets | living | Stockholm | SBF and BauMont | Holmström Fastigheter Holding | 16,500m2 | NA | The acquisition comprises the properties Stockholm Autopiloten 5 and 9 in Skarpnäck, Nynäshamn Postmästaren 2 and Österåker Berga 10:6 in Åkersberga. |
| Assets on the market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Broker | Key facts |
| Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg hotel | hotel | Paris | Asian investors | 148 rooms | €300+ | NA | The owners bought the asset in 2016. |
| Wenlock Works | office | London | Schroders | 128,733sqft | £78 (€93) | CBRE | The sale reflects a 10% net initial yield. |
| Canons Yards | mixed | Bristol | Canada Life | 279,312sqft | £35 (€42) | JLL | The asset has a weighted average unexpired lease term of 16.87 years and generates an annual passing rent of circa £3.1m. |
| 1 St Paul’s Place | mixed | Sheffield, UK | Canada Life | 81,000sqft | £25 (€30) | Cushman & Wakefield | The price reflects a 9% net initial yield. |
| Saw Close leisure development | leisure | Bath, UK | National Grid UK Pension Scheme | 54,816sqft | £19.5 (€23) | Cushman & Wakefield | The sale reflects a 7.3% net initial yield. |
| three Galeria properties | retail | Aachen, Heilbronn, and Ulm, Germany | Administrators for Galeria | 90,000m2 | NA | Lührmann | The biggest asset is in Aachen at Adalbertstraße 20–30, with 53,400m2 of gross floor area. |
| Château Béla | hotel | Slovakia | NA | 37hectares | NA | Christie & Co | With a history spanning more than 250 years, the château underwent extensive restoration that was completed in 2008. |
| 1 Ocean Drive | office | Edinburgh | Revcap | 62,500sqft | NA | CBRE | The asset was granted permission to convert to a 146-room hotel in August. |
| Premier Inn Dublin City Centre Hotel | hotel | Dublin | PI Hotels & Restaurants Ireland Limited | 229 rooms | €67 | JLL | The fully let asset is expected to be completed in Q1 2027. |
| Recently completed loans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender(s) | Borrower(s) | Asset(s) | Loan Size (mln) | Key facts |
| Bond investors | Mercialys | Unsecured | €300 | The bonds mature in January 2033. |
| Maslow Capital | Dunas Capital Real Estate | two pre-let industrial developments in Barcelona | €126 | The transaction has enabled the acquisition of a 125,000m² portfolio of land plots in Castellbisbal. |
| Erste Group and two other Austrian financial institutions | Warimpex | Ogrodowa Office in L̸ódź, Mogilska 35, 41 and 43 in Kraków | €100 | The seven-year loan is the largest financing deal in the history of the Vienna-based property development and investment company. |
| DL Invest Group | BNP Paribas Bank Polska | Logistics property portfolio | €54 | The loan, maturing in February 20233, will finance the construction of logistics facilities. |
| UTB | Dominus | Wandle Place BTR scheme in London | £35.3 (€42) | The five-year facility refinances Dominus’s existing development loan. |
| Deutsche Pfandbriefbank | Net Zero Properties | Jade Nord portfolio | NA | The package includes 1,010 residential units in Northern Germany. |
| Unicredit Bank | AEW | New Eastside in Munich | NA | Completed in 2021, the building provides 23,000m2 of modern, flexible office space. |
