Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) transacted more than €2.5 billion globally in 2020, including c. €2.1 billion in Europe and c. €2457 million in Asia. Globally, transactions included nearly €1.7 billion of acquisitions and €833 million of disposals, resulting in a net investment of €842 million. The firm now manages approximately €21.2 billion (over USD 25 billion) in assets under management (AuM), a company record.

On behalf of a German client, JLL’s Industrial Agency and Capital Markets Teams cooperated to sell the real estate component for a unique medical production operation in the Central Bohemian region of the Czech Republic in a 10-year sale & leaseback transaction. The asset also includes over 10,000 sqm of land with development potential.

Globally, there is set to be a 50% surge in investment into commercial real estate in the second half of the year, predicts Colliers International in its new Global Capital Markets 2021 Investor Outlook paper. In EMEA, the momentum continues in the industrial and logistics and living sectors which are less dependent on economic growth. Investors are also particularly interested in core office stock, albeit selectively, with some 32 per cent of respondents looking to invest in the sector.

The total volume invested in real estate assets in Romania reached €914 million in 2020, a 28% increase compared 2019, according to the Romania Investment Marketbeat launched by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Slovenia-based investor ALFI Real Estate fund has completed the acquisition of a new retail park based in Poreč, Croatia (Galerija Poreč). The property with roughly 8,500 sqm was purchased from specialist Austrian investor MID Group. The retail park is strategically positioned in a new shopping zone near a McDonald’s restaurant and has an attractive tenant mix with everyday convenience items.

M7 Real Estate has acquired a modern, multi-tenanted office property in Budapest, Hungary, for €12.35 million. The company has also agreed a €56.7 million loan facility on a five-year term for the Fund with Erste Group, one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe, establishing a new banking relationship in the region.

Savills top picks for value-add investors this year are logistics developments in undersupplied markets such as the Nordics and Spain, short-term income sectors such as flexible offices and student housing, which are likely to recover in the second half of this year, and multifamily developments in markets with rising demand for rental such as Southern and Eastern Europe.

CPI Property Group has sold part of its Czech facility management business to M2C, which provides security, maintenance and cleaning services. Employees from the existing facility management division will be transferred to M2C.

Skanska has sold the Parkview office building in Prague to Deka Immobilien for €77 million. This is the second transaction between both parties in the last twelve months, which follows the acquisition of Generation Park Z in Warsaw last year.

The end of 2020 saw the completion of an investment transaction that will enable the future development of one of the largest logistics parks in the Czech Republic on the extensive land surrounding the D5 motorway near Pilsen. CBRE prepared and managed the disposal process on behalf of the Icelandic asset manager Kaupthing. CBRE in addition to advising on the sale, also assisted with land due diligence, feasibility study and provided technical advisory. The new owner of the land is retail chain Lidl.