International real estate developer HB Reavis has signed a preliminary sale agreement to sell two of its buildings, situated in Warsaw, to Savills Investment Management on behalf of a Global Pension Fund client. In one of the largest transactions of the year in Poland and also in Central and Eastern Europe amounting to €186 million, Savills Investment Management has acquired buildings A and B of the Gdanski Business Center in Warsaw, totalling 48,000 sqm.

International real estate developer HB Reavis has sold its Konstruktorska Business Center to international real estate investment company Golden Star Estate B.V. in the developer’s first divestment in the Polish market.

Echo Investment has published its H1 2016 results. The Group had the revenue of PLN 280.5 mln in H1 2016 (compared to PLN 273.8 mln in H1 2015), a gross sales profit of PLN 145.4 mln (compared to PLN 135 mln), an operating profit of PLN 404 mln (compared to PLN 31.3 mln) and a net profit of PLN 299 mln (compared to PLN 22.7 mln).

The Aviva Investors Polish Retail Fund has signed a preliminary sales agreement for Focus Park in Zielona Góra and Focus Mall in Piotrków Trybunalski. The two shopping centres are to be purchased by Rockcastle for around 161 million euros. JLL advised Aviva Investors on the transaction.

Romania and Hungary are seeing new capital flowing into their respective commercial real estate markets as a consequence of a significant yield spread between Western and Eastern Europe. Skanska has relased a new report, focuing on investment opportunities in the CEE region.

Student accommodation has become popular among investors in some Western European cities, but there is an almost complete lack of this investment product in the CEE region. Colliers International has released a recently conducted research analysis that explores the current status of student housing in the Czech Republic and the future prospects of this sector that could attract both domestic and foreign investors.

TriGranit has announced that a preliminary agreement has been entered into to sell the Bonarka City Center in Krakow, to Rockcastle, a property company investing in retail centers in Central and Eastern Europe. The financial closure of the transaction will take place in the following months.

Rockcastle Global Real Estate has acquired three regional shopping centres in Poland for a total of 522 million euros. Bonarka City Center in Kraków, Focus Mall in Zielona Góra and Focus Mall Piotrków Trybunalski will be added to the South African fund’s portfolio.

Appeninn has purchased a property in the Rózsadomb area of the 2nd district of Budapest. The company has signed a lease agreement for 6 years with Pénzügykutató Alapítvány (Financial Research Foundation) regarding the over 800 square meters large office.

Investment into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (excluding Russia) for H1 2016 registered a substantial increase (59%) compared to same period of last year, surpassing €5 billion. Expectations are that for the entire year, investment volumes will reach and exceed the record volumes of 2015 with all CEE countries expected to perform strongly, says CBRE.