Slovakia continues to maintain its reputation as a safe investment location with competitive yields. The total volume of commercial real estate transactions in Slovakia in 2020 amounted to €502 million. This is a 27% decrease compared to the previous year, which is due to increased investor caution and, in part, a reduced appetite for retail assets due to uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on their future development, according to a summary by Cushman & Wakefield.

The Industrial Agency of Colliers International Czech Republic completed the signature of a 15,688 sqm lease agreement for a German multinational engineering and technology company for industrial premises at CTPark Bor.

The Romanian office market registered a 36% decrease in 2020 from the record level of 470,000 sqm recorded in 2019 to 300,000 sqm, JLL data shows.

Globalworth, the leading office investor in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), announces the appointment of Marian Popa as Managing Director for Romania with effect from 1st March 2021. As Managing Director, Marian Popa will be responsible for managing the company’s activities in Romania, focusing on operational, administration and business development matters, and will report to Dimitris Raptis, CEO of Globalworth Group.

Over the year, the developer signed lease agreements with such clients as Media Expert, 4f, InPost, Allegro and Phoenix Contact for over 2.1 million sqm of space – 800,000 sqm more than the previous year. This volume was achieved in spite of the outbreak of the epidemic in March and was mainly due to the e-commerce boom. The strong performance of the warehouse and industrial market was also the result of other new trends – such as the shift of production from Asia closer to the end consumer and retail networks securing the continuity of their supply chains.

Savas Gencer has been appointed as investment director at 7R. He has joined the investment team led by Christopher Zeuner and will be responsible for capital raising activities and 7R’s international expansion into new European markets.

Over 650,000 sqm of logistics and industrial space were rented last year in Romania, almost 40% more than in 2019, a Dunwell analysis shows.

CTP is expanding its industrial park north of the Serbian capital, CTPark Belgrade North, following the purchase of a 28,500 sqm warehouse and adjacent land for further development from Austrian-based real estate developer Eyemaxx. As a result, the overall capacity of CTPark Belgrade North now stands at 50,000 sqm, with the landbank enabling to achieve about 115,000 sqm of leaseable space at the location.

In 2020, Echo Investment hit records both in sales and handovers of apartments. It managed to sign 1570 sales contracts with clients, what outperformed last year's results by 16%. At the same time, clients received their keys to 1505 apartments, which in turn means a 19% increase compared to 2019.

US investor Starwood Capital, through its Luxembourg holding company SOF-11 Klimt CAI S.à r.l., has increased its stake in Austrian company CA Immo to 29.99% in the past few weeks and announced a takeover offer for the remaining shares for €34.44 per share. Starwood also plans to submit an offer for CA Immo’s convertible bonds.