Savills Investment Management has entered into an agreement to form a strategic investment alliance with Samsung Life, the leading life insurer in Korea, and its real estate asset management subsidiary Samsung SRA. As part of this agreement, Samsung Life will acquire a minority interest in Savills IM Holdings Limited and commit capital of US$1 billion to Savills IM's investment strategies over the initial four years of the relationship. The transaction, which is conditional on various regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to complete in Q4, 2021.

The finalisation of the purchase of a controlling stake in Archicom, the sale of 463 apartments and handing over 154 apartments to clients, the start of leasing of two completed Resi4Rent projects in Warsaw, maintaining average leasing in all completed Resi4Rent buildings at the level exceeding 95%, as well as the sale of the Villa Offices building in Warsaw Brewery – this is a summary of Echo Investment's operating activities in the first quarter of 2021. During this time, the Group generated €5.46 million (PLN 24.5 million) of net profit.

VisionApartments, a company controlled by Swiss billionaire Anja Graf, has acquired a land plot of 15.6 hectares near Bucharest where it plans to start a complex real estate investment. 

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has provided a loan worth €10 million to Garanti BBVA Consumer Finance. The funding will support residential investments in energy improvements and resource efficiency. 

Czech real estate developer and investor Crestyl, together with investment management firm Cornerstone Partners, completed the acquisition of Polish residential developer Budimex Nieruchomości. Budimex Nieruchomości was a subsidiary of Poland's largest construction group, Budimex SA, owned by the Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial.

Heimstaden subsidiary, Heimstaden Bostad AB, is to buy a newly-built residential portfolio with 2,496 homes in Poland for €305 million (SEK 3.1 billion) from leading Polish residential development company, Budimex.

BentallGreenOak, a leading global real estate investment management advisor and provider of real estate services, has announced the acquisition of a logistics park comprising three well-located, high-quality warehouses in Gdańsk, Poland. This marks the firm’s first investment in the Polish market, as it continues to expand its presence across Europe.

Globe Trade Centre has decided to sell its Belgrade office portfolio to the Hungarian investor Indotek Group. The proposed acquisition price is €267.6 million, exceeding the book value of GTC’s Serbia portfolio as of 31 December 2020. The agreement will cover the sale of 11 buildings within 5 business parks of a total 122,175 sqm GLA with high occupancy rates, located in the New Belgrade district. Once completed in Q3 2021, the sale will become one of the largest real estate transactions in the last 5 years on the CEE market.

Digital property platform Casta, part of Neogen group, has taken over real estate classifieds' portal Magazinul de Case, in a bid to expand across Romania. 

Argo Properties N.V., a Dutch company active in the German residential private rented sector, completed an initial public offering in which Cordia International participated as a part of its international expansion strategy.