Erste Real Estate, a subsidiary of Erste Bank Hungary, has signed an agreement to sell 57 hectares of a 170-hectare plot in Ecser, next to Budapest, to an international logistics company that intends to build a 100,000-square-meter high bay warehouse on the plot. VLK Cresa assisted the seller in this transaction.

New Work, an independent flexible office operator in Central and Eastern Europe, has secured new funding to accelerate the implementation of their 360° Workspace Solution strategy.

International investor Aurec Capital has expanded its portfolio in the private rented sector (PRS) in Poland. The transaction of the Puławska 186 project completed between Aurec Capital Poland and Matexi Polska is worth over €22 million (PLN 100 million). JLL advised the investor on the purchase of the property.

Generali Real Estate has acquired the Kotva department store in Prague for an undisclosed sum from Pražská Správa Nemovitostí (PSN) through its pan-European fund Generali Real Estate Asset Repositioning SA (GREAR).

Optimum Ventures Private Equity Fund (owned by Optima, the fund manager of the National Bank of Hungary's foundations) and an affiliate of Lone Star Funds (an American private equity firm) have entered into a conditional share purchase agreement, pursuant to which Optima will acquire a majority shareholding (61.49%) in Globe Trade Centre S.A., a Polish company trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund (HPSIF), an investment fund managed by Hines Polska, finalised the sale of its real estate portfolio, comprising six distribution parks and the Nord Point office building, to CGL Investment Holdings Corporation Limited. Investing in commercial properties in order to increase their value and then selling them is one of Hines’ core business areas. In 2020, the company plans to expand in the Polish market.

As it was reported yesterday, the €300 million sale of NEPI Rockcastle’s Romanian office portfolio to AFI Europe has been suspended. In their separate announcements, the buyer claims that the completion of the transaction was impossible due to the COVID-19 related restrictions imposed by the authorities, while the seller insists that these restrictions did not prevent completion. The two companies have not reached a consensus on postponing the transaction’s deadline. NEPI Rockcastle has interpreted AFI Europe’s actions as a wish to cancel the acquisition and is now asking the company for a €15 million compensation.

The €300 million sale of NEPI Rockcastle’s Romanian office portfolio to AFI Europe has been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis, Profit.ro reports.

Savills Investment Management has completed the acquisition of the logistics unit leased to Leroy Merlin in Piątek from Invesco Real Estate, the global real estate investment manager, on behalf of Korean institutional investors managed by Vestas Investment Management.

Hillwood acquired new industrial land in Czestochowa where is intends to develop Hillwood Logistics Centre Częstochowa-Miasto, a modern park consisting of 2 warehouses totalling ca. 64,000 sqm GLA.