2016 reached the volume of €11.8bn in investment markets across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, according to a research report by Colliers International. Aside from Poland, investment flows in 2017 will be close to or higher than 2016’s.  The retail sector might see continued rental growth and high investment levels across the region.

Prologis announced fourth quarter and full year 2016 activity in Europe. Prologis Europe ended the fourth quarter with 96.7 percent occupancy, an increase of 90 basis points over the course of 2016. The company signed new leases and renewals totalling 718,200 square metres in the fourth quarter and 3.5 million square metres in the full year 2016 – an increase in volume of 54 percent over 2015.

Panattoni Europe has expanded its team. The developer’s ranks have been joined by Adam Janus, who has taken the position of Business Development Director. He will be responsible for attracting new warehouse projects and aligning the developer’s services with the needs of clients and prospects.

TriGranit announced the appointment of Tamás Páldi, M.D. as Human Resources Director and Mr. Mariusz Domeracki as Finance Director for Poland. 

Vienna-based developer Raiffeisen Evolution Project Development has been renamed Strabag Real Estate (SRE), the management announced. 

Looking at what is going on in world politics, TriGranit’s CEO finds it difficult to comprehend why many still stress the political risk factor when talking about the Central European real estate market. He’s optimistic about the future and expects further diminishing returns on investment, along with new investors appearing in Budapest. Árpád Török talked to us about plans for developing TriGranit and the future of the real estate market.

Immofinanz AG has announced a change in the preliminary timetable for the intended merger with CA Immobilien Anlagen AG. The reason is the planned divestment of Immofinanz’s Russian property portfolio, which is a condition for the merger of the two companies. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Immofinanz today decided to schedule a longer period than originally considered for the process to separate the Russian properties. The recent stabilisation of the economy in Russia has contributed to this decision. 

Immofinanz has announced the sale of a smaller Austrian retail portfolio to an Austrian real estate investor and, with this transaction, continues its strategic withdrawal from properties that are not part of the core business. The portfolio covers 88 properties with approx. 108,000 sqm of rentable space in eight Austrian provinces. The parties to the transaction have agreed not to disclose any information on the purchase price. The closing will take place in several steps through the end of 2017. 

NEPI and Rockcastle have announced that the two companies will effectively be merged in a new entity, NEPI Rockcastle, to be implemented with reference to an effective share swap ratio of 4.5 existing Rockcastle shares for every 1 existing NEPI share. Alexandru Morar and Spiro Noussis, the current chief executive officers of NEPI and Rockcastle, respectively, will be appointed joint chief executive officers of NEPI Rockcastle, with Dan Pascariu appointed as independent non-executive chairman. The merged entity is expected to become the largest listed real estate player in CEE.

EY has established a dedicated Real Estate & Hospitality Advisory team based in Prague covering the Czech Republic and the Central Eastern European region. The team will focus on the areas of Corporate Strategic Advisory, Capital Markets, Valuations, Commercial Due Diligence as well as Capital Raising combining traditional property services with business, financial and legal advisory.