Peakside gears for Polish asset disposals

Independent real estate investment firm Peakside is gearing up to start selling EUR 600 mln of assets owned by its new Polish platform over the next few years.

Peakside acquired Allied Irish Bank's Polish property fund management subsidiary in early April. In an associated transaction Peakside and Swiss private equity firm Partners Group teamed up for the 50:50 joint acquisition of AIB's minority interest in the businesses two funds, Polonia Property Fund I and Polonia Property Fund II.

The addition of the two funds adds EUR 600 mln to Peakside's assets under management.

The firm has two priorities in relation to the current assets managed by the Polish business over the next few years. 'Task number one in 2012 is to commence the liquidation of the Polonia I fund,' Peakside founding partner Roger Barris told PropertyEU.

Polonia I was established in 2003 with an initial equity commitment if EUR 100 mln. The fund has a scheduled maturity date in July 2013, which Peakside believes will probably have to be extended for a year to avoid having to sell the assets too quickly.

The fund owns five office properties in Warsaw, two in regional Polish cities and two in Budapest. The portfolio also includes two logistics assets. The fund's largest assets are all office properties: Atrium Centrum, Warsaw; Poznan Financial Center, Poznan; and East-West Business Center, Budapest.

The Polish assets should attract a lot of interest, while the assets in Budapest will require more work to ensure they sell in the volatile Hungarian market, Barris said.

'The next priority is to actively asset manage the portfolio to enable the sale of all the assets managed by the platform over the next three years,' he continued.

Polonia II was established with initial equity commitments of EUR 200 mln in 2007 to invest in Poland and other CEE markets. Its investment period was terminated early and its portfolio includes three outlet shopping centres in Poland, representing about 50% of the outlet mall market in the country.

Read more about Peakside's plans for Poland in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe