Apleona GVA has secured a contract for technical support and advisory services during the pre-opening phase of the Holiday Inn Warsaw City Centre Hotel and the transition to the new owner. The 256-room property is ready to host its guests. It was officially acquired by Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on January 31st for its UniImmo: Deutschland fund.

Wing Zrt. has acquired a retail portfolio which includes the EuroCenter Óbuda shopping centre as well as two properties in the regional city of Szombathely. The company has over ten years of experience developing and managing retail properties and plans to carry out value-enhancing investments across the new portfolio with a particular focus on the Buda shopping centre. Wing intends to invest in improving the shopping centre’s existing strengths for both shoppers and tenants.

CPI Property Group announced the disposal of the Budaörs Office Park property in Hungary, located in the Western suburbs of Budapest, at an undisclosed price. The buyer is a Hungarian real estate fund which has not been named.

FLE, a relatively new player on the CEE investment market, plans to acquire €100 million worth of assets just in Hungary and expects new investors to join the race. Dr. Alexander Klafsky, LL.M. MRICS, Managing Partner at FLE GmbH talked investment strategy and market expectations.

In the two-year period since acquiring the office building for the Cromwell Central Europe Retail Partnership (CCERP), Cromwell has generated more than 21 per cent IRR for investors. The name of the buyer and the purchase price has not been disclosed.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed exclusive sales agent for a tenement building at 68 Piękna Street in Warsaw.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it has subscribed €50 million into a €500 million Eurobond first issuance by NE Property Cooperatief, a company owned by CEE-focused real estate investment trust NEPI Rockcastle.

Aerium, a European real estate fund manager has disposed of three shopping centres in Poland to Newbridge, a Warsaw-based investment & development firm. The portfolio includes CH Czyzyny and CH Bielawy, both opened in 2002 in the cities of Krakow and Torun, respectively, and CH Guliwer, which has been operating in Lodz since 1997. The assets comprise over 72,000 sqm of gross lettable space and are anchored by Carrefour on a long-term lease.

2017 was a record breaking year for the Bulgarian office market with almost 200,000 sqm take-up in Sofia. The investment volume has also been the strongest ever with €1 billion invested in commercial property (land acquisitions included) from which income generating assets hold €870 million. Cushman & Wakefield Forton summarised 2017 on the Bulgarian office, retail and industrial markets.

At ca. €12.98 billion, 2017 recorded a 3.3% increase over 2016 (€12.56 billion) and, for the second year running, set a new record transaction volume for the CEE region. JLL has registered continued appetite from investors for the full range of assets across the entire region.