Real estate investor and fund manager Cromwell Property Group has announced the sale of six retail centres across Poland, held by the Cromwell Polish Retail Fund (CPRF), to Czech investor Star Capital Finance for €285 mln, in line with the assets' latest appraised value.
The portfolio totals more than 219,000 m2 and includes rights in six shopping centres: Janki in Warsaw, Kometa in Torun, Korona in Wroclaw, Tulipan in Lódz, Ster in Szczecin and Rondo in Bydgoszcz.
The occupancy of the portfolio exceeds 95%, with anchor tenants including Auchan, Bi1, LPP Group, Inditex Group, CCC Group, Rossmann, RTV EURO AGD and Cinema City.
Cromwell bought the portfolio in 2019 by exercising a pre-emptive right to acquire third party investor interests in the Cromwell Polish Retail Fund, which at the time owned 7 assets with a gross value of €600 mln.
Since then, Cromwell has implemented extensive asset management initiatives across the properties, significantly improving occupancy and footfall levels. The Group will continue to act as asset manager of the shopping centres on behalf of Star Capital Finance.
Cromwell has also exercised ambitious sustainability programmes at the assets, with the portfolio achieving a record overall GRESB score of 90 and a five-star rating in November 2023.
The divestment is part of the firm's plan to stremline its structure through the sale of non-core assets to de-risk the business and reduce gearing. The sale would bring down leverage for the group to around 35%.
Andrew Creighton, head of Investment Management, Europe at Cromwell Property Group, commented: 'This sale concludes our strategy to sell these assets to achieve our strategic target of being a capital-light fund manager, with our asset management programmes successfully boosting the performance of each shopping centre and notably enhancing the sustainability credentials of the portfolio.'
Josef Malir, managing director at Star Capital Finance, commented: 'We have bought a high-quality portfolio of shopping centers with a great potential for further development. Entering the Polish market is a milestone and a huge challenge for us, which we intend to take full advantage of. We would like to thank all our partners who assisted us to make one of the largest real estate transactions of the CEE region a reality.'
JLL, BNP Paribas RE, Greenberg Traurig, PwC Polska and CBRE Project Management & Building Consultancy advised Cromwell Property Group on this transaction. Savills advised Star Capital Finance.
The operation follows the €41.5 mln sale of Cromwell's 50% share of its joint venture retail asset in Ursynow, Poland, which completed at end February.
