Atrium European Real Estate has agreed its first residential acquisitions in Poland worth €53m, as part of the company’s plan to diversify its portfolio into the residential for rent sector.

Atrium – which focuses on locally dominant food, fashion, and entertainment shopping centres – disposed of large parts of its CEE portfolio in 2019, as part of a strategy to consolidate its assets and focus on high-quality assets in prime urban locations only.

In February last year, the company announced a strategy to diversify its portfolio by investing in and managing residential for rent real estate, with a primary focus on Warsaw.

The Euronext-listed real estate company said it is investing €53m to acquire its first two residential transactions, totalling around 650 residential units, located in Warsaw and Krakow.

Atrium said the acquisitions form part of the diversification strategy which targets the creation of a portfolio of approximately 5,000 residential for rent units by the end of 2025.

Liad Barzilai, CEO of Atrium Group, said: “These transactions mark a step forward in our strategy to diversify our portfolio into the residential for rent sector and leverage growth opportunities that will allow us to continue to deliver strong, long term sustainable returns to our shareholders.”

Barzilai said the company has a pipeline of a further 4,000 units in Poland as “we work towards meeting our ambitious targets and we look forward to building on these initial investments over the coming months”.

To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.