Sale-and-leaseback specialist WP Carey has completed the acquisition of a Nokia research and development facility in the Polish city of Krakow for €10 mln.

Sale-and-leaseback specialist WP Carey has completed the acquisition of a Nokia research and development facility in the Polish city of Krakow for €10 mln.

Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN), a subsidiary of global communications and information company Nokia Corporation, has agreed a 10-year, triple net lease for the property.

Completed in 2003, the 4,961 m2 facility houses approximately 300 engineers, computer technicians and researchers who are working within Nokia’s network and telecom infrastructure division.

WP Carey carried out the deal for CPA®:17, one of its main US real estate investment trusts. The company said that Krakow, Poland's second-largest city, has emerged as 'Eastern Europe's Silicon Valley.' The city supports a strong cluster of technology businesses and is home to offices and R&D centres of Google, IBM, GE and Hitachi. Neighbouring buildings to the facility include Motorola, Ericpol, the Jagiellonian University Library, Ma³opolska Information Technology Park and the Krakow LifeScience Technology Park and Bioincubator.

Jeffrey Lefleur, WP's Carey's managing director for Europe, said: 'Poland is the second-largest economy in Central Eastern Europe with projected GDP growth and a healthy and liquid banking industry. These metrics, along with the strength of the Nokia tenancy and positive outlook for the Krakow office market, enhanced the attraction of this acquisition as a solid addition to CPA®:17 – Global’s portfolio.'

Active in Europe since 1998, WP Carey and its managed REITs have invested €3 bn in the region. This transaction is WP Carey’s second in Poland this year; in April, the company announced the €115 mln acquisition of Bank Pekao’s headquarters in Warsaw on behalf of two of its managed REITs.