Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate is improving the carbon footprint of its portfolio within the scope of its ESG strategy. The real estate portfolio is gradually being converted to an environmentally-friendly supply of electricity from ecological sources and heat from carbon-neutral natural gas. In joint undertaking with the Hamburg-based energy provider Lichtblick, a total of 126 properties are currently being converted to the use of green electricity. This will allow for a reduction of carbon emissions in the portfolio by around 7,500 tonnes annually. Warburg-HIH Invest will also be gradually converting its entire European real estate portfolio to green electricity.

One of Panattoni’s existing customers, Globalway – a supplier of (among others) toys, furniture, sports accessories and interior furnishings produced in China – has decided to lease the whole of Panattoni Park Tricity East IV. This has been made possible thanks to the close cooperation of the developer with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH), which is supporting the project by providing investment incentives for Globalway. The 52,000 sqm complex is to be built in the eastern part of Gdańsk, where the tenant will be ready to move in Q1 2021. The leasing deal was brokered by Querco Property.

Savills Investment Management has acquired a logistics property in Łódź, Poland, and two adjacent distribution centres in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, for a total of c. €52 million. The Polish property was purchased on behalf of the Savills IM European Logistics Fund 2 (ELF 2) portfolio, which now comprises 26 properties. The two Dutch logistics properties constitute the third transaction on behalf of the European Logistics Fund 3 (ELF 3), which was launched in late 2019.

Over 80% of industrial occupiers are asking about sustainable warehouse solutions and 60% of them would like their facilities to be green-certified, reveals Cushman & Wakefield in its Industrial Goes Green report on sustainability in the industrial sector.

The recent transactions closed in the last weeks, with a total value of €400 million, demonstrate that the investment market in Romania remains strong and attractive even in the COVID-19 pandemic period, Romania no longer being just seen as just a fringe market of Central Europe, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Retail parks have been the biggest beneficiaries of the structural retail changes in Poland over the last ten years. Their number has doubled and increased their share in total retail stock by 4 pps. In H1 2020, developers completed nearly 148,000 sqm of modern retail space in large scale projects (GLA>5,000 sqm). Of this new supply, 67% was delivered in the shape of eight new retail parks and three extensions of existing schemes. Almost 450,000 sqm of GLA is still under construction with initial completion dates set for 2020 and 2021. Retail parks account for nearly 26% of this volume. JLL and Trei Real Estate Poland summarised the situation regarding these projects at the end of H1 2020, and outlined the development prospects for this commercial real estate sector in Poland.

Six investors, representing the most active players of the Slovak property market, discussed the experiences of the pandemic period and shared future strategies at Bratislava Property Forum 2020, an annual event co-organised by Property Forum and RICS.

Austrian developer Supernova has laid the foundation stone for a €70 million project aimed at the expansion of the Supernova Ljubljana Rudnik shopping centre in Ljubljana. Upon the completion of the project, Supernova Ljubljana Rudnik will become the biggest shopping centre in Slovenia.

Asset manager M7 Real Estate has assigned Cushman & Wakefield to take over the management of Hamburk Business Center, an office building in Plzeň. The building is owned by the BHS Real Estate Fund.

HB Reavis Group is launching the sale of a new bond issue through Slovenská sporiteľňa. Bonds with a nominal value of €1,000, a maturity of 4 years and a coupon of 3.35% pa are issued by HB REAVIS Finance SK VII sro, a subsidiary of the HB Reavis Group.