UK and CEE-focused investor First Property Group has acquired Krakow Business Park (KBP) in Poland by buying the companies owning the majority of the assets within the park.
Financial details were not disclosed, but First Property said the purchase involved restructuring the defaulted bank loans on the asset, amounting to €47 mln.
KBP comprises four Class A office buildings with a gross leasable area of some 50,000 m2, half of which is vacant. There is room in the park for additional development. From July 2018, it will be renamed Eximus Park.
'We fully expect to make Eximius Park the best business park in and around Krakow,' said Ben Habib, group chief executive, First Property.
'The buildings on the park provide excellent office space, but we shall be expanding its facilities to make it a home away from home for its tenants. Our plans include a new sports ground, park area, additional car parking, a free bus service for all tenants, a refurbished railway station with an improved frequent service to central Krakow (some 15 minutes away), new retail facilities, top of the range restaurants, a kindergarten and much much more.'
First Property said it had also secured third-party investor commitments from a group of investors to invest some €33 mln of new equity in Fprop Phoenix, the holding company for KBP. These investors include the Willis Towers Watson Partners Fund, Christ Church, Oxford, St Catherine’s College, Oxford and Christ’s College, Cambridge.
The asset is close to Krakow International Airport and has its own railway station. Krakow is the second largest city in Poland with a population in its metropolitan area of some 1.5 million.
