The competition authorities of Poland, Hungary and Serbia have all granted consent for Optimum Ventures Private Equity Fund’s takeover of a majority shareholding (61.49%) in Globe Trade Centre S.A., a Polish company trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

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.

GTC signed a €130 million refinancing loan agreement for one of the largest assets in its portfolio, Galeria Jurajska. Located in Częstochowa, the 48,700 sqm shopping centre offers over 200 stores, service points, restaurants and a multi-screen cinema.

GTC has closed the sale of the 16,100 sqm Neptun Office Center in Gdańsk to buyer CBRE Global Investors. The Class A office building is located in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz, at Aleja Grunwaldzka. Completed in 2014, Neptun Office Center offers 16,100 sqm of modern office space and 160 parking spaces.

GTC has just obtained a building permit for a new office project in Katowice. Once finished, the Class A building will offer 18,315 sqm of state-of-the-art office space over 5 floors in the heart of Katowice. The building, inspired by Katowice’s modernist architecture, is designed by JEMS Architects.

Construction of the Pillar office building has begun in the Váci Road office corridor area of Budapest. The Class A office building of four blocks is being developed by GTC and will be occupied by ExxonMobil in H1 2022. The office building will contain a two-level underground garage, a café, a restaurant, a nursery, a fitness centre. a conference room and other service facilities. Pillar will have a LEED Gold sustainability certificate. The architectural plans for the asymmetrical and unique building with its wavering forms were designed by the ZDA-Zoboki Design & Architecture.

Erste&Steiermärkische Bank is providing financing for the construction of GTC’s Matrix Office Park in Zagreb, a project consisting of two highly-efficient buildings, designed and constructed in line with LEED Platinum certification for green construction. Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic’s Banking and Finance team has closed the financing transaction for its long-standing client, GTC.

ExxonMobil’s Global Business Services Center has signed a lease, agreeing to occupy GTC’s entire Pillar office building, which is currently under construction and due for delivery early Q1 2022. This is the largest deal in an office building that is already under construction in the history of Hungarian office transactions. CBRE represented ExxonMobil in this record-breaking transaction.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment loan and a VAT facility totalling €52 million to an open-ended special alternative fund managed by Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate. The fund will use the proceeds for the acquisition of the newly built White House office building in Budapest from developer GTC. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facilities.

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate acquired a LEED Platinum certified new office building in Budapest on behalf of an open-ended special AIF of an institutional investor. The White House, developed by GTC Group, was completed in summer of 2018 and has a gross lettable area of 22,300 square metres. The property is fully occupied, the main tenants being investment fund manager BlackRock, Jaguar Land Rover and the Dutch co-working provider Spaces. The average lease term is 8.2 years. It was agreed not to disclose the purchase price.