Investment fund Focus Estate Fund has set the goal to expand the geography of its presence in Central and Eastern Europe. In the next two years, the Fund plans to more than double its portfolio by strengthening its position in the niche of medium-sized commercial real estate in Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as by entering the Slovak market.

Allianz Real Estate intends to invest as much €500 million in CEE property over the next two years, according to a Bloomberg article.

Approximately €754 million was invested in Polish commercial property in the first quarter of 2019, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest investment market report.

Futureal Group has sold its Advance Tower located on the Váci road office corridor to Erste Real Estate Fund. This is the first transaction in the Hungarian market, which includes a WELL pre-qualified office building having a beneficial impact on employees’ health and comfort. The real estate fund has acquired the first phase of the complex developed by the group, while the second phase could join its portfolio under a forward deal.

In order to finance its further growth, Globalworth successfully completed a capital increase of €500.5 million. The EBRD invested a further €25 million to support the company’s planned growth. The Bank became a shareholder in Globalworth in December 2017 and currently holds a 5.8 per cent stake in the company.

The pace of yield compression decelerated across Europe’s commercial real estate markets in the first quarter of 2019, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate report.

SGI SA has sold the Lastadia Office in Szczecin to a company managed by Greenstone Sp. z o.o. Lastadia was delivered to the market in 2013 and offers ca. 12,500 sqm of GLA. It is located at the banks of Oder River along Wały Chrobrego and is fully let to international and Polish tenants.

JLL advised Atrium European Real Estate Limited in the disposal process of two Polish shopping centres, namely Atrium Felicity and Atrium Koszalin to the ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund II, managed by the independent fund managing company ECE Real Estate Partners. The parties signed on 9th May 2019 an agreement concerning the sale of both assets for €298 million, representing around 3% premium to book value as at 31 March 2019. The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

Kajima Student Housing Limited (KSH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kajima Europe and part of Kajima Corporation, a Japanese real estate investment, development and construction company, has, in partnership with Griffin Real Estate Partners (GRE) acquired Student Depot, Poland’s largest provider of student accommodation, from Oaktree Capital Management.

The Czech property investment market continues to post solid figures in an environment that is increasingly less bullish. One of the leading local players believes that a downturn of the current property cycle will eventually come from a major outside macro shock and before this happens, the Czech commercial property sector will keep showing positive figures. Tomáš Jandík, CFA, MRICS, REICO’s Chief Investment Officer shared his market expectations with Property Forum.