Central European shopping centre specialist Atrium European Real Estate has agreed to acquire Wars Sawa Junior, a prime retail asset located in Warsaw's central high street retail area for €301.5 mln.
Atrium is to buy Wars Sawa Junior from PFCEE, a fund managed by CBRE Global Investors, using a mixture of existing cash resources and external financing.
CBRE GI initially bought a half share in the asset from the Eastbridge Group’s real estate arm in 2007. It bought out its 50% partner in the property in 2011 for €76 mln.
Following the transaction, Atrium’s loan to value ratio will increase from 33.5% to 37.0%, the company said in a statement. The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent, with completion anticipated during the fourth quarter of this year.
Built in the early 1970’s, Wars Sawa Junior was originally Warsaw’s first department store. Having been remodeled, extended and upgraded a number of times, it is now one of Warsaw’s most well established and popular retail centres with footfall in excess of 60 million visitors per annum.
It offers 26,000 m2 of gross lettable area which is fully let to a range of international and domestic retail and leisure brands such as H&M, C&A, CCC, TK Maxx and Zara. Additionally, the retail centre offers a further 11,000 m2 of predominantly office and storage space.
The centre is expected to benefit from several significant new developments that are under construction nearby and are planned to open in 2018.
Upon completion of the transaction, Atrium will own four major shopping centres in the Polish capital with a total GLA in Poland of 550,000 m2.
Commenting on the acquisition, Liad Barzilai, CEO of Atrium Group, said: 'Wars Sawa Junior is one of the most well-known, best located shopping destinations in downtown Warsaw and this high footfall retail asset is a superb addition to our Polish portfolio.
'Not only does Wars Sawa Junior add another large dominant retail destination to our growing Warsaw asset base, it also offers a number of exciting opportunities for redevelopment and asset management that will allow us to grow the centre and create further value, taking full advantage of its unique prime central location. The acquisition is in line with our strategy of focusing Atrium’s portfolio towards prime shopping centres in Poland and the Czech Republic with the higher quality cash flow growth that they provide.'
