IMMOFINANZ AG announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 25,690,167 ordinary shares that represent ca. 26% of the outstanding share capital and voting rights in CA Immo from O1 Group Limited and Terim Limited. The acquisition is a first step towards a planned full combination of IMMOFINANZ and CA Immo by way of a statutory merger. Prior to the envisaged merger, IMMOFINANZ is planning to demerge or sell its Russian asset portfolio which is characterised by different market dynamics and a higher risk profile.

According to the CBRE Investment Breakfast Intentions Survey the vast majority of investors expect more than EUR 1 billion of investments in the Hungarian commercial real estate markets in 2016.

HB Reavis Group and Zeus Capital Management have completed the sale and purchase of Váci Corner Offices. HB Reavis Group’ first development in Hungary, located in the heart of the Váci út office corridor in Budapest, has been purchased by a group of investors represented by Zeus Capital Management. This is the first major office transaction in the Hungarian real estate market in 2016, as well as a milestone in the business development of HB Reavis in Hungary. This acquisition is made by Zeus Capital Management in relation to its commercial properties investment platform dedicated to Central East and South East Europe.

After many long years Budapest once again had a booth at the world’s most important real estate expo, MIPIM. With this, Budapest at least partially returned to the investor marker, since traditionally every significant Central European city is represented by a booth. The Hungarian capital has not quite attained the investor attention that for example Warsaw has, but investor sentiment towards the Hungarian property market has improved noticeably recently, and this can be experienced in Cannes too.

According to CBRE’s 2016 EMEA Investor Intentions Survey almost half (48%) of all surveyed expect their purchasing activity to be higher than last year, compared with just 15% who expect to be less active buyers. 43% also expect their selling activity to increase, indicating a buoyant and liquid real estate investment market for the region in 2016.

South African Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Redefine Properties is significantly broadening its offshore footprint via an initial 75% investment into Echo Investment’s 1.2 billion euro commercial platform comprising 18 properties in Poland.

In 2015 Skanska Commercial Development Europe signed final sale agreements for eleven office buildings located in three Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, achieving a total transaction volume of nearly 500 mln EUR for the year. Skanska is now compiling its sales portfolio for 2016 and continues to purchase land for new development projects.

As core European markets continue to become increasingly tight, the CEE region is attracting more capital and witnessing high levels of real estate investment activity.

Investment into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (excluding Russia) for 2015 reached a historic high level at over €9.6 billion, representing a 20% increase year on year. Czech Republic and Poland put in a particularly strong performance, recording investment volumes of EUR 2.7 billion and EUR4 billion respectively.

International investor and developer, CTP, has successfully concluded the purchase of a portfolio of industrial real estate in Hungary. With this acquisition, CTP further increases its footprint in Central Europe, with a TRA exceeding 3,250,000 sqm as of January 2016.