CA Immo has completed negotiations with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on acquiring 49% of shares each in the office buildings Danube House in Prague and Building A of Infopark in Budapest, both so far part of the open-ended property fund UniImmo: Europe. The deal, which has already been closed, will make an immediate positive contribution to long-term profitability by around €3 million.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired, on behalf of a separate account client, Prague’s Letňany Shopping Centre from Tesco. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.

Aviva Investors and LaSalle Investment Management have acquired River Garden II & III in Prague, on behalf of the Pan-European Fund Encore+ for €84 million. River Garden II & III, developed by HB Reavis is Class A office building with ground floor retail, located in the Karlin district of Prague. This is the first acquisition that Encore+ has made in the Czech Republic.

Strong demand across all investment sectors is expected to continue into 2017 in the Czech Republic and the €3 billion boundary could be exceeded once again. Retail is likely to become the most popular asset class next year, followed by offices and industrial. CBRE has released the Czech Republic Real Estate Market Outlook 2017.

Blackstone has sold the Hilton Prague Old Town hotel and Gestin Centrum, an adjacent 6,900 sqm mixed use commercial building, to Singapore-based real estate investment group M&L Hospitality. JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality group advised Blackstone on the sale.

Prague's office market has witnessed several records this year: the lowest annual office supply in history and one of the highest demand volumes. By the end of 2016, Prague´s office market will have 3,245,000 sqm of modern offices. At the same time, the Czech capital recorded the lowest annual office supply in history with only 33,600 sqm in 6 projects, On the contrary, over 180,000 sqm of new office space will be delivered to the Prague market next year. 

EY has established a dedicated Real Estate & Hospitality Advisory team based in Prague covering the Czech Republic and the Central Eastern European region. The team will focus on the areas of Corporate Strategic Advisory, Capital Markets, Valuations, Commercial Due Diligence as well as Capital Raising combining traditional property services with business, financial and legal advisory.

Mint Investments, a Central European real estate investment & asset manager sold Panorama Business Center in Prague. The buyer was REDSIDE, manager of real estate open-ended investment fund NOVA Real Estate (SICAV). The seller was advised by CBRE.

Penta Investments has sold its Florentinum office building, the company’s first development completed in the Czech Republic, to Chinese investment group CEFC. Florentinum, a LEED Platinum certified property opened in 2014 and is home to 70 long-term tenants, many of them blue chip companies such as EY, HSBC Bank, Bank of China, Havel Holásek & Partners Law Firm and RSJ Investment Group. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed. 

Only two shopping centres will be completed in 2016 in the Czech Republic due to the slow-down of construction activity in response to the perceived market saturation. Colliers International has released its Q3 retail market report for the Czech Republic, which also states that there are signs of new entrant demand which do not match suitable space availability.