Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed Polish property group Echo Polska Properties (EPP) raised approximately ZAR2.2 billion (around €150 million) in an accelerated bookbuilding through the placing of app. 119 million new shares at a price of ZAR18.50 per share. Capital will be used to previously announced acquisitions and for further M&A opportunities in the retail segment within Poland.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed property manager of the Prosta Tower office building in Warsaw. A special open-ended real estate fund managed by Credit Suisse Real Estate Investment Management Germany is the owner of the scheme. The property management agreement was signed in December 2016.

Atenor confirmed the closing of the sale of the third building of the Váci Greens campus in Budapest to Hungarian real estate fund OTP Prime Ingatlanbefektetesi Alap and consequently the collection of the full sale price, i.e. €63.75 million. Váci Greens B comprises 25,300 sqm of office space and 399 basement parking spaces. 

2016 saw a total of 585,700 sqm of office space leased on the eight largest regional markets in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin). Wrocław accounted for 124,500 sqm of this overall volume. This excellent result meant that Lower Silesia's capital city was second among regional markets, after Kraków, in terms of office demand. JLL summarised 2016 on the office market in Wrocław.

Nearly half a million square meters of modern office space was delivered to the office market in the key Polish regional cities in 2016. The leader’s position was retained by Kraków, Lesser Poland’s capital, followed by, amongst others, Wrocław and the Tri-City. According to the report’s authors at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, current pipeline projects will also support the high growth dynamics in 2017.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed as sole letting agent for Astrum Business Park, a Warsaw office complex comprising 30,000 sqm of leasable space, by owner IRYDION Sp. z o.o.

Sky Office Center, located at 31 Rzymowskiego Street in Warsaw, has received the BREEAM In-Use International Certificate for “Building Management” and for “Asset Performance”, owner Hines Poland announced. The facility received the “Excellent” grade in both cases.

Skanska has sold Maraton, an office building located in Poznan, Poland, for €62 million. The property has been acquired by a real estate fund managed by Union Investment. It is the second sales transaction between Skanska and Union Investment in the Polish regional markets. The first sale between the two companies was Dominikanski in Wroclaw. Maraton is Skanska's second office project in Poznan following Malta House.

Vienna-based real estate investment company S Immo AG has launched another project in Bratislava, the Einsteinova Business Center. The property is located right near the Danube in the Petržalka district and is directly connected to the old town via a pedestrian and tram bridge. An office building offering 23,500 sqm of lettable space is being built on the site, which encompasses roughly 11,600 sqm. The building is planned as a green building and should receive BREEAM certification with a level of “Excellent”.

Spanish investment fund, Azora Europa l, has sold Galleries Louvre, their prime office property in Prague 5, to Redstone Real Estate, a private equity platform. The counterparties agreed not to disclose the price. The property is a mid-sized office building offering approximately 4,800 sqm of prime administrative space and is fully and long-term let.