Graz-based Supernova Group is continuing its expansion in Slovenia by buying ten shopping centres of Centrice Real Estate GmbH (a company of the American Lone Star fund). The latter had taken over the properties in 2016 from the Austrian company, Heta, the liquidation company of Hypo Alpe Adria within the framework of a major overall transaction. This Qlandia package was the centrepiece of the portfolio and incorporates market-leading shopping centres in several Slovenian regions.

In 2019, the Polish housing market experienced an acceleration and increase of projects in the rental and private student housing sectors. Poland is still on the radar of large foreign investors and some of them have been able to conclude spectacular deals. Although potential institutional buyers still aren’t able to purchase turn-key portfolios on an expected scale, and entering the market mostly means building new stock, the institutional rental sector is drawing more and more interest and will undoubtedly become a desired category of safe assets in 2020.

Romanian retailer Profi’s network is expanding rapidly, inaugurating new stores while also taking over already-existing networks. The most recent development involves acquiring 18 supermarkets in Prahova and Dambovita counties from local peer Pram Maya. This transaction was already approved by the Competition Council. CBRE assisted Maya in the transaction process.

Major real estate developers continued to be active in Bucharest throughout 2019, providing the land needed for new projects consisting of over 6,000 apartments and 130,000 square meters of offices. Overall, in 2019, 24 major transactions were made in Bucharest with land intended for the development of residential, office or mixed projects, some of them having the potential to include a hotel component, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Globalworth has signed agreements with Podium Investment Poland to acquire Podium Park in Kraków. Podium Park comprises three connected 11-storey buildings which will, on completion, have a total leasable area of ​​over 55,000 sqm, and it is one of the few office projects in Poland with BREEAM certificates at the highest possible level - Outstanding.

Romanian bank BCR has completed the sale of the historic Oscar Maugsch Palace, located on Bucharest’s Universitatii Square, to the Luxembourg-based Vivion Investment Fund, controlled by Isaac and Amir Dayan from Israel. The value of the transaction is estimated to be between €30-35 million, according to unofficial sources quoted by Economica.net.

The Catella European Residential (CER) Fund has acquired a mixed-use development project of residential apartments and student accommodation in the Polish city of Kraków for around €20 million from U.S. developer Hines.

This year has been a good year for the Romanian real estate market. The latest and last report of the year from Colliers International shows that the market has evolved better than expected in many segments.

Accor has entered into a binding agreement to sell its 85.8% stake in Orbis to AccorInvest at a price of PLN 115 per share, corresponding to proceeds for Accor of €1.06 billion (PLN 4.55 billion), in line with Orbis’ Gross Asset Value. This completes the Orbis transaction, following the acquisition by Accor of Orbis’ Management and Franchise business last October for €286m.

In Q3 2019, the total office stock in Prague reached 3.59 million sqm, according to Colliers International. Completions include two new and one refurbished property: Dock In Three in Prague 8 (16,000 sqm), Argentinská Office Building in Prague 7 (5,800 sqm) and the refurbished Life Building C in Prague 4 (11,100 sqm).