Adventum Group, the CEE focused real estate investment manager, has signed contracts to acquire 18 retail park assets in the Czech Republic and Hungary anchored by Tesco in a €280 million transaction. The app. 360,000 sqm portfolio will be a significant addition to its growing portfolio of assets across the core CEE countries including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. A banking consortium of OTP Bank Plc. and Erste Group (Erste Group Bank AG and Erste Bank Hungary Zrt.) has entered into a new €150 million acquisition facility to finance the acquisition of the portfolio. The acquisition facility was arranged by OTP Bank and Erste Bank.

Poland’s convenience retail market has seen dynamic growth during 2020 and 2021 with several significant investment transactions closed and many new developments launched. Michał Ćwikliński MRICS, Principal, Managing Director and Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska, Research and Data Manager at Avison Young in Poland talked to Property Forum about the trends driving this market segment.

A new development division of the Lekvi Group plans to build fifteen new retail parks in the region within five years. So far, this group of investors from the countries of the former Soviet Union has focused on the sale of apartments but now sees potential in retail parks in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The planned projects should cost CZK 1 billion, E15 reports.

Polish developer Scallier has secured a building permit for a new retail park with a leasable area of 9,975 sqm in Vaslui, Eastern Romania.

Tatra Asset Management has acquired the Hexagon retail park in Žarnovice, Central Slovakia from Hexagon Retail s.r.o. The new owner of the Hexagon retail park with an area of 3,600 sqm is a real estate fund managed by Tatra Asset Management, which with this acquisition has expanded its portfolio to 11 retail parks operated under the Lipa Park brand.

Czech-Dutch investment company Fidurock has commenced the construction of the second phase of the Staré Město retail park project. The extension will expand the current 4,100 sqm building with 500 sqm.

Prudnik Retail Park has changed its owner. The facility was purchased by LCP Properties, which after the completed transaction became one of the 70 commercial properties currently held in the company's portfolio. Thus, the lease area of all the projects managed in Poland by LCP exceeded 260,000 sqm. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed. 

Poseidon Group, an investor, asset manager and property manager of the Capitol Park centres across Croatia, confirmed the sale of the assets they fully manage in Zadar, Križevci, Krk, Jastrebarsko, Ivanić-Grad and Makarska, to a group of local private investors.

Immofinanz is following its market entry in Italy with the expansion of its Stop Shop retail park brand across the Adriatic region in line with the corporate strategy. In Croatia, plans call for an increase in the number of Stop Shops from the current level of 4 to more than 20 locations over the medium term. The completion of a newly developed Stop Shop and the expansion of an existing location is scheduled for the first half of 2022. Detailed market and location analyses indicated high demand by the Croatian population for decentralised, local supplies. This conclusion led to a decision by Immofinanz to secure 22 sites in medium-sized Croatian cities for the development of Stop Shop retail parks. The purchase price for these sites totals approximately €80 million.

The Stop Shop retail network operated by Immofinanz will be expanded with another service: 116 high-performance electric charging stations will soon start operating at 14 locations.