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).

CBRE assisted the Hexagon group of companies in selling a portfolio of three office buildings in Cluj-Napoca. By adding this new transaction, the volume of real estate investments reaches almost €200 million in Cluj-Napoca, thus maintaining its attractivity after Bucharest, in terms of real estate investment.

AFI Europe N.V. and NEPI Rockcastle announced the conclusion of the transaction for the acquisition of NEPI Rockcastle’s office portfolio in Romania, with a total GLA of 118,500 square meters. The transaction value is in excess of €300 million.