In the middle of August, the whole world was once again in Olympic fever, as Rio hosted the 31st Summer Olympic Games. The event bears significance for Hungary, beyond the achievements of its athletes, because Budapest is one of the cities which has applied to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

At the end of September 2016 total modern warehouse stock in Poland stood at 10,920,000 sqm. Occupier and developer activity is expected to continue its strong momentum, as revealed by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield in its latest Polish Industrial Market Q3 2016 report.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired on behalf of its investors, the ‘Hillwood Portfolio’ consisting of four standing logistics parks in Poland totalling 220,608 sqm. The vendor was Hillwood. CBRE Global Investors has also agreed to acquire from Hillwood a pipeline of projects currently under development. These consist of two new parks and two extensions in Poland totalling 134,165 sqm and two new developments in Germany totalling 71,684 sqm.

P3 Logistic Parks, a pan-European owner, developer and manager of logistics properties, announced that GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire P3 from TPG Real Estate and its partner Ivanhoé Cambridge. The transaction values the business at €2.4 billion and is the largest European real estate transaction this year. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of 2016.

On 4 November 2016, NEPI, through its subsidiary NE Property Cooperatief UA, concluded an agreement to acquire all the issued shares in, and shareholders’ claims against, Granit Polus Laniste d.o.o. from Lobularia Ventures Limited and repay Laniste’s entire outstanding debt. Laniste wholly owns a shopping mall of 62,100 sqm of GLA situated in Zagreb, Croatia, that opened in November 2010, named Arena Centar and adjacent additional land plots of approximately 4.4 ha. The aggregate purchase price for the transaction is €237.5 million and was settled from NEPI’s existing cash resources.

Staamp Poland Sp. z o.o., a manufacturer of plastic components for the automotive industry, will add 2,600 sqm to its manufacturing facility in Błonie near Warsaw. Brica Group Sp. z o.o. is the general contractor of the project. Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield represented Staamp Poland.

Echo Investment has signed a preliminary agreement with Invesco Real Estate European Fund (IREEF) to sell its flagship project, the Q22 office building in Warsaw.The value of the transaction will be established in the final agreement and it will be calculated on the basis of a formula which takes into account the actual sales date, a commercialization level and a cap rate of 5.35%. 

Colliers International has launched its Workplace Solutions consultancy in the Czech Republic after having been met with success on other global markets for over 10 years.

International real estate developer HB Reavis has appointed Peter Ceresnik as Group Leasing Director. In his new role Peter will lead the company’s five leasing teams, as well as its marketing and IT divisions.

Bulgaria heads the list of the top ten countries in terms of attractiveness to the automotive sector in Europe. This was revealed in the latest research by Colliers and Automotive Cluster Bulgaria, which took place during the second half of 2016.