Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX has acquired a portfolio of three office properties in Poland from developer Ghelamco.

Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX has acquired a portfolio of three office properties in Poland from developer Ghelamco.

Ghelamco described its first ever 3-asset portfolio sale as 'one of the biggest office transactions of the year' in Poland.

The price was not disclosed but German bank Helaba provided €136 mln in financing for the transaction. A conservative loan-to-value ratio of 50% would translate into an investment volume of around €270 mln. It is likely, however, that the LTV was higher, and CoStar Finance has estimated the LTV at 70%, giving a purchase price of €192 mln.

The largest office transaction in Poland this year was Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management's acquisition of the Rondo 1 office tower in central Warsaw for €300 mln.

Commenting on the Starwood deal, Jeroen Van der Toolen, Ghelamco’s managing director for Central and Eastern Europe, said, 'This transaction reinforces the value of our projects as investment products, as well as the leading role of Ghelamco in the Polish real estate market. This also marks the first time that we have sold three of our buildings in one transaction. Funds from the sale will be invested in new office, retail and residential projects.'

The two properties in Warsaw and one in the southern Polish city of Katowice comprise a total of 78,000 m2 of gross leasable area and 2,090 parking spaces. Two of the buildings were constructed in 2013, while the other was built in 2010.

The three properties are 96% occupied, with the top seven tenants comprising national and international blue-chip companies. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tauron and Zywiec - Poland’s largest beer brewer - are anchored at Katowice Business Point; T-Mobile and Citibank are based in the T-Mobile Office Park in the Mokotów district of Warsaw; and Allianz Poland as well as Alior Bank are based in Lopuszanska Business Park in Warsaw.

All buildings in the portfolio are BREEAM certified, and T-Mobile Office Park in Warsaw was the first building in Poland to achieve the BREEAM-Excellent certificate.

'We believe that these properties are well-positioned to benefit from the persistent strengthening of Poland, one of Europe's fastest-growing economies,' said Keegan Viscius, vice president at Starwood Capital Group.

Helaba arranged the financing, acting as sole lender on this transaction, while Dentons, CBRE and Arcadis advised Starwood Capital Group. Jones Lang LaSalle and Hogan Lovells advised Ghelamco.

The investment follows on from Starwood's acquisition in 2013 of The Park, a campus outside of Prague. The asset is regarded as one of the top office assets in Central and Eastern Europe and while the investment volume was not disclosed PropertyEU Research has estimated it was in the region of €300 mln.

'These transactions highlight Starwood Capital Group's expanding presence in Europe, as well as our ability to opportunistically invest in markets that we believe are poised to capitalise upon a prolonged recovery across the region,' Viscius added.

Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Starwood has raised nearly $25 bn (almost €19 bn) of equity capital since its inception in 1991, and currently manages $36 bn in assets.