Companies from the BPO sector may be reducing their offices in North America or Western Europe, but they are taking up more space in CEE at the same time. Yovav Carmi, CEO of GTC talked to Property Forum about issuing green bonds, ESG strategies and the BPO industry.

“An Investment in commercial property is attractive to investors who want to invest their money and generate higher yields. Commercial real estate investments are also becoming more popular with private investors to complement the portfolio”, explains Markus Arnold, CEO of Arnold Investments. This trend led to a strong half-year performance in the commercial sector for the investment brokers. With a transaction volume of about €100 million and 90,000 sqm of space brokered, the company declared a healthy six-month balance. “Two thirds of the transactions were concluded in Austria and one third in our other European branches where further deals are imminent. In most of the deals both buyers and sellers are advised by Arnold Investments”, reports Markus Arnold in greater detail.

SOF-11 Klimt CAI S.a.r.l., a controlled subsidiary of Starwood Capital Group, has decided to increase the offer price from €35.00 (dividend-adjusted) to €37.00.

In 2020, €370 million was transacted in the CEE-6 (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) region. This figure was far below initial expectations for the year (€1.8 billion), as many deals were put on hold or withdrawn, and transaction activity initially brought to a near halt as a result of the pandemic. Most of the volume transacted in the last year (87.6%) comprised deals that had already been committed to before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Colliers today announced that Monika Rajska-Wolińska has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Colliers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), now including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, effective from 01 August 2021.

The Supervisory Board of CA Immo decided on the upcoming succession of the current CEO Andreas Quint, who will retire when his Management Board mandate expires on 31 December 2021. Silvia Schmitten-Walgenbach is appointed as the new CEO with effect from the beginning of 2022 for a period of three years until December 31, 2024.

Immofinanz was informed that the RPR Privatstiftung sold its entire shareholding in RPPK Immo GmbH, which holds a total of 13 million Immofinanz shares and 5 mandatory convertible notes issued by Immofinanz , to Eurovea Services, s.r.o. Sole shareholder of Eurovea Services, s.r.o. is Peter Korbacka.

With sustainable electricity running through 16 office buildings, including Aeropark Business Centre in Warsaw and Korona Office Complex in Cracow, GTC aims to reduce its carbon footprint and commits to ensure affordable and clean energy in all its facilities, as announced recently in the Group’s 2020 ESG report.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested €42.5 million in a €500 million green Eurobond issue by real estate company CTP to support its portfolio expansion, thereby increasing the supply of green real-estate stock across the EBRD’s regions.

The senior living aspect of the European healthcare market continues to attract new capital according to the “European Healthcare - A Growth Market” just released by Colliers. Strong demographic demand and limited supply of customer options are the drivers of the capital to this sector.