Echo Polska Properties – an international fund operating as a REIT –is purchasing seven office buildings with almost 112,000 sqm of GLA from Echo Investment, a Polish developer. The total value of the properties as at the agreement amounts to almost €264 million. The sold properties are: O3 Business Campus in Kraków (phase I, II and III), Tryton Business House in Gdańsk, A4 Business Park in Katowice (phase III) and Symetris Business Park in Łódź (phase I and II).

Park Atrium – one of the most recognisable Budapest office buildings, leased to Deloitte, ING and Roche - was sold last week. German-based Asset Manager Corpus Sireo - on behalf of one of their managed accounts - has purchased the building from Accession Fund managed by GLL Real Estate Partners for an undisclosed price believed to be in excess of €50 million.

In the last quarter alone South African investors have spent €1 billion in CEE and it is most likely that they won’t stop chasing higher yields anytime soon. Even though investments in Central and Eastern Europe are generally considered risky by European standards, coming from other parts of the world opportunities in the region may seem rather safe. We report from CEE Property Forum 2016, co-organised by Portfolio Property Forum and RICS, where over 300 visitors and 70 speakers came together to discuss the most pressing issues concerning regional investment markets.

Last year there has been a significant increase of interest from investors for logistics properties and properties for development, which signals the emergence of the automotive and e-commerce industry as well as the start of large-scale real estate developments – says DLA Piper’s annual Hungarian Real Estate Intelligence Report. According to DLA Piper, the increased acquisition activity from developers will translate into new commercial assets being introduced into the market around 2017 Q4 and 2018 Q1.

TriGranit has completed the sale of Bonarka City Center (BCC) in Krakow to Rockcastle, a property company specializing in retail centres in Central and Eastern Europe. TriGranit, which is owned by TPG Real Estate and was the developer of the shopping centre, will remain the property manager for two years. In addition to managing BCC, TriGranit will remain active in Krakow and is currently developing three office buildings in the ‘Bonarka for Business’ (B4B) area.

CA Immo has signed a sales and purchase agreement to acquire the Millennium Towers Class A office complex comprising of 70,400 sqm GLA in Budapest, Hungary. The transaction volume of the fully rented asset amounts to €175 million, the annual rental income reaches €12 million. 

International real estate developer HB Reavis has signed a preliminary sale agreement to sell two of its buildings, situated in Warsaw, to Savills Investment Management on behalf of a Global Pension Fund client. In one of the largest transactions of the year in Poland and also in Central and Eastern Europe amounting to €186 million, Savills Investment Management has acquired buildings A and B of the Gdanski Business Center in Warsaw, totalling 48,000 sqm.

International real estate developer HB Reavis has sold its Konstruktorska Business Center to international real estate investment company Golden Star Estate B.V. in the developer’s first divestment in the Polish market.

Echo Investment has published its H1 2016 results. The Group had the revenue of PLN 280.5 mln in H1 2016 (compared to PLN 273.8 mln in H1 2015), a gross sales profit of PLN 145.4 mln (compared to PLN 135 mln), an operating profit of PLN 404 mln (compared to PLN 31.3 mln) and a net profit of PLN 299 mln (compared to PLN 22.7 mln).

The Aviva Investors Polish Retail Fund has signed a preliminary sales agreement for Focus Park in Zielona Góra and Focus Mall in Piotrków Trybunalski. The two shopping centres are to be purchased by Rockcastle for around 161 million euros. JLL advised Aviva Investors on the transaction.