The acquisitions of the Rondo 1 tower in Warsaw and Poznan City Center mall topped a strong first three months for cross-border investment in Poland. .
The acquisitions of the Rondo 1 tower in Warsaw and Poznan City Center mall topped a strong first three months for cross-border investment in Poland. .
German investor Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) paid some €300 mln to a fund managed by US investment manager Blackrock for Rondo 1 in central Warsaw. According to figures from JLL, an additional €252 mln of investment was completed in the Polish office market in the first quarter of 2014.
This results in a volume of €552 mln for the sector, or almost 60% of the total €939 mln for Poland from January to end-March. JLL said this year's result marked a 67% increase on the total spend of €638 mln in Polish commercial property at the same time last year.
Typical of the Polish market, cross-border players were involved in all the largest trades. In the second largest office deal, Kimberly - a vehicle controlled by US REIT WP Carey - bought Lipowy Office Park in Warsaw for €108 mln.
JLL tracked €296 mln of transactions in the retail segment and €91 mln in the industrial sector. The largest retail transaction was the acquisition by a joint venture of funds managed by Resolution Property and ECE of Poznan City Center from Trigranit, Europa Capital and Polish railway company PKP. While the investment volume was not disclosed, PropertyEU Research has established the price tag was in the region of €250 mln.
Agata Sekula, head of retail Investment, CEE, JLL, commented: 'General forecasts for the coming months are very positive. Taking into account the ongoing negotiations, investors' activity, and the assets for sale, we expect the 2014 total investment volume to be on par with or even higher than the volume of €3.4 bn in 2013.'
A round-up of European real estate investment during Q1 appears in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine.
