Following several successful transactions in Prague (Waltrovka, Rustonka, Main Point Pankrác), the sale of Bratislava’s Twin City Tower marks another major Central European deal involving a Korean investor. Cushman & Wakefield, which over the course of the past few months has helped bring a total of €600 million of Korean capital to the region, summarised the phenomenon.
Twin City Tower, a newly completed office scheme with Amazon as the anchor tenant, was bought by Valesco, a London-based real estate investor, and South Korea’s AIP Asset Management for €120 million. Cushman & Wakefield played a key role in the investor making its decision to tap the Slovak market, getting to know Slovakia as an investment destination and identifying the Twin City Tower as a premium office scheme in Bratislava’s sprawling City Business District.
“Bratislava offers the right investment mix of a developed office market with modern buildings, the presence of a wide range of international occupiers, the euro currency and excellent geographic accessibility. In addition, investors can acquire buildings in Bratislava that achieve higher yields than in Prague or Warsaw,” comments Alexander Rafajlovič, Partner, CEE Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield.
The professionals from Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets team also assisted with the sale of the Waltrovka, Rustonka and Main Point Pankrác office centres in Prague; those transactions took place in the first half of this year.
All these deals demonstrate that Cushman & Wakefield can attract new international capital, which was not present in the market before, to the region thanks to its global reach and presence in all of the important markets of Central and Eastern Europe. This is also why the company has been strengthening its foothold in the Slovak market since 2019.
“We grow with market requirements, so we built the Capital Markets, Valuation & Advisory and Research teams in Slovakia, and we will strengthen them with more real estate professionals in the weeks to come,” says Marián Fridrich, Partner and Deputy Head at Cushman & Wakefield Slovakia.
It is apparent that the Czech Republic and Slovakia are becoming increasingly attractive destinations for Asian capital. Experts from Cushman & Wakefield who provide their services across the region also see opportunities in Poland and Hungary, and Romania and Bulgaria may be attractive in the future.
