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. 

As announced in October 2016, Rockcastle concluded a preliminary agreement to acquire Galeria Warmińska shopping centre in the city of Olsztyn in Poland from Galeria Warmińska Spółka z Ograniczoną Odpowiedzialnością Spółka Komandytowa. All conditions precedent have been met and the transaction was concluded effective as of 15 December 2016.

NEPI and Rockcastle have announced that the two companies will effectively be merged in a new entity, NEPI Rockcastle, to be implemented with reference to an effective share swap ratio of 4.5 existing Rockcastle shares for every 1 existing NEPI share. Alexandru Morar and Spiro Noussis, the current chief executive officers of NEPI and Rockcastle, respectively, will be appointed joint chief executive officers of NEPI Rockcastle, with Dan Pascariu appointed as independent non-executive chairman. The merged entity is expected to become the largest listed real estate player in CEE.

Rockcastle Global Real Estate has acquired a retail portfolio totalling 62,000 sqm from Aviva Investors, worth €160 million. Cushman & Wakefield, Hogan Lovells, Arcadis and PwC represented the purchaser, JLL, Dentons and Deloitte advised the seller in the transaction. The portfolio comprises two shopping centres: Focus Mall Zielona Góra and Focus Mall Piotrków Trybunalski. Providing respectively 26,800 sqm and 35,200 sqm, they are the largest shopping galleries in Zielona Góra and Piotrków Trybunalski. 

TriGranit has completed the sale of two assets. Millennium Towers, an office complex in Budapest, has been sold to CA Immo for €175 million and Bonarka City Center, a shopping mall in Krakow has been purchased by Rockcastle. The developer will remain the property manager of both assets.

TriGranit has completed the sale of Bonarka City Center (BCC) in Krakow to Rockcastle, a property company specializing in retail centres in Central and Eastern Europe. TriGranit, which is owned by TPG Real Estate and was the developer of the shopping centre, will remain the property manager for two years. In addition to managing BCC, TriGranit will remain active in Krakow and is currently developing three office buildings in the ‘Bonarka for Business’ (B4B) area.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Helaba and ING Bank have jointly underwritten an investment facility, totalling €163.6 million, to refinance Karolinka, Pogoria and Platan Shopping Centres in Poland. The assets are owned by Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company Limited. The transaction closed in September 2016. pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Helaba and ING Bank are acting as Joint Lead Arrangers providing equal portions of the funding, with pbb acting as facility and security agent of the transaction. 

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.

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.