The Octava FIZAN fund is in the process of acquiring a portfolio of 11 office and retail assets in Poland, including Onyx in Kraków and Centrum Krakowska 61, Renaissance Tower and Eureka Park in Warsaw, from two BPH FIZ funds. Savills is advising the buyer on the transaction, which is expected to be finalized by the end of H1 2017. The parties did not reveal the value of the acquired assets, but the estimated value significantly exceeds €100 million.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Helaba and ING Bank have jointly underwritten an increase to an investment facility, totalling €67 million, to refinance Focus Mall Zielona Gora in Poland. This facility is in addition to a €164 million facility granted by the same banking consortium in 2016, for the Karolinka, Pogoria and Platan Shopping Centres in Poland. The assets are owned by Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company Limited. The transaction closed in February 2017. 

Warsaw office building Wspólna 47/49 has been awarded a BREEAM IN-USE International certificate. It received an “Excellent” rating in Asset Performance and a “Very Good” rating in Building Management. The scheme is owned by CA Immo and Cushman & Wakefield is the property manager.

At end-2016, Poland’s total stock of modern shopping centres, including retail parks and outlet centres, reached 11.2 million sqm of GLA across 479 retail schemes. The Polish Retail Research Forum (PRRF) has summarized the retail market in Poland in H2 2016. 

The Rezidor Hotel Group, a member of international Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, has announced the signing of the first Radisson RED in the Central Europe. The newly built Radisson RED Krakow is expected to be completed by fall of 2019.

The partners of Balmain Asset Management and Sharman Church Chartered Surveyors have signed an agreement to merge the advisory businesses of Balmain and Sharman Church. The combined entity will trade under the newly established name of BSC Real Estate Advisors. The firm will provide clients with a complete set of service lines across all commercial property sectors including offices, retail, investment, industrial and property management. Balmain Asset Management will continue to trade as a completely separate entity continuing its focus on Asset and Investment Management.

City Space, an operator of serviced offices, is to open new business centres in Wrocław, Katowice and Gdańsk in the next few weeks. So far the office operator was present in Warsaw and Kraków, its dynamic expansion is an effect of joining forces with Echo Investment. 

Warimpex announced the partial sale of its hotel portfolio to Thai investor U City Public Company Limited (U City). The transaction includes eight hotel participations – two of which are partially (50 per cent) owned by UBM Development AG (UBM) – which comprise approximately 50 percent of Warimpex's total real estate assets and which have a property value of approximately €180 million (excluding the stakes of UBM in that portfolio). 

The supply of office space in Warsaw at the end of last year exceeded 5.18 million sqm after the stock increased by 410,000 sqm. BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland experts signal that 650,000 sqm of office space under construction and more than 1,000,000 sqm of additional pipeline projects constitute a vital argument for tenants either searching for new locations or planning to renegotiate their leases.

Further to its ad hoc announcement of 21 December 2016, Atrium European Real Estate Limited announced that Liad Barzilai has, effective today, been appointed, as Chief Executive Officer of the Group.