Investor appetite on the Polish real estate market in Q2 2017 has translated into high transaction volumes which stood at approximately €1 billion. The retail sector accounted for 80% market share of capital invested in Q2, mainly resulting from large portfolio acquisitions. If pending deals conclude, the year-end result should be close to €4.2-4.4 billion, which would be similar to the record of 2016.

Pan-European fund manager Aerium has sold a shopping centre in Brno to CPI Property Group, for an undisclosed sum. Built in 2004, Kralovo Pole Shopping Centre comprises of a two-level gallery with 78 shops and a food court, providing a total of 26,500 sqm GLA plus 900 parking spaces. It is anchored by a Tesco hypermarket.

Union Investment has sold the 18,000 sqm office property Krisztina Palace in Budapest. The property was acquired in 2008 as a development project and has been part of the portfolio of the open-end real estate fund Unilmmo: Global ever since. The property has been purchased by the Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund, managed by Erste Asset Management, the asset management arm of Erste Group. CBRE brokered the transaction and the legal firm CMS provided legal advice. 

Total real estate investment in Europe reached €74 billion in Q2 2017, representing a 25% increase on the same period last year, according to CBRE. Central Europe as a region proves to be more attractive to international investors than last year with Hungary accounting 15% of the overall investment volume.

South African fund Hystead has acquired of The Mall, one of the largest shopping centres in Bulgaria, located in the capital city Sofia. The acquisition, upwards of €156 million, represents the fourth investment in the region by Hystead Limited, a joint venture between Hyprop Investments and Homestead Limited, who previously acquired the Delta City shopping centres in Podgorica and Belgrade alongside Skopje City Mall in Macedonia at the end of 2016. 

The EPISO 4 opportunistic fund, advised by Pan-European real estate manager Tristan Capital Partners, has acquired the Avenir Business Park office complex in Western Prague from debt restructuring firm Lone Star.

CTP recently closed on two acquisitions, known among the CEE real estate industry as the Aviva and IPEC deals. The company acquired two buildings in the Czech Republic and two buildings in Romania. At the same time, CTP disposed of two non-core assets in Bratislava and Prague.

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate, a German based real estate investment manager, will acquire the Sagittarius Business House office scheme in Wrocław on behalf of an individual fund it manages for an institutional investor. The property is under construction and its completion is expected in Q1 2018.

Mint Investments, a Central European real estate investment & asset manager acquired the International Business Center (IBC) in Prague on behalf of a syndicate of private investors. The buyer was AEW Europe, a multi-national real estate asset manager, with over €60 billion of assets under management. AEW was advised by CBRE, Havel, Holásek & Partners and Mazars. Mint Investments were advised by Mareš Partners and EY.

HB Reavis has completed the issue of a new series of its PLN 500 million bond programme established for the Polish market, raising €51.9 million (PLN 220 million). This latest issue represents not only the largest tranche in the history of the HB Reavis Group but also the largest bond issue achieved by a commercial real estate developer in Poland this year.