MOL Group announces the acquisition of 100% of Normbenz Slovakia s.r.o. by Slovnaft that includes 16 service stations in Slovakia operated under the Lukoil brand. MOL has also concluded a deal with Marché International AG to buy the company that operates 9 restaurants in Hungary under the Marché brand. The agreements fit the Group’s “Shape Tomorrow” 2030+ updated long-term strategy, which lays special emphasis on the development of consumer services.

At the end of 2020, there was more than 39 million sqm of modern logistic industrial space in the region. More than one half (53%) of this stock is in Poland, while the Czech Republic with more than 9 million sqm accounts for about 23% of the Central European market. Cushman & Wakefield analysed the trends in the industrial property sector in five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia).

Mountfield, Europe’s largest specialised retailer of garden machinery, swimming pools and home and garden equipment, has chosen the Shopping Palace centre as the site of its new store in Slovakia. Managing the shopping centre since 2013, the MVGM team has created a compact retail space for Mountfield, which covers 1,500 square metres and also includes a warehouse and suitable office space. On the occasion, MVGM summarised the state of Slovakia’s retail market.

The InTeFi investment group has become the majority owner of the Cassovar Business Center I building in Košice following a €30 million acquisition. The building comprises 13,500 sqm of office space and a 7,000 sqm shopping gallery.

Slovak company KLM CHG intends to build a new retail park near Chorvátsky Grob in the Bratislava Region with three separate buildings, following an investment of about €6.5 million.

Trei Real Estate’s development portfolio grew by 33 percent to €1.2 billion in 2020 from €900 million in 2019. The sum total breaks down into €1.0 billion in residential real estate and c. €200 million in retail real estate. The proprietary portfolio of Trei maintained its total of c. €1.2 billion and it includes 349 assets.

The Arete Group of investment funds completed the entire transaction and transferred ownership of the complete portfolio of the Arete Invest CEE II subfund in the amount of €113.2 million (CZK 3 billion) to Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT) a publicly-traded real estate investment trust listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

CA Immo has successfully closed the sale of the Bratislava Business Center 1 and 1 Plus office buildings in Bratislava to Wood & Company, a leading investment bank in Central and Eastern Europe. The office complex covers rentable area of around 25,500 sqm.

In Q4 2020, dwellings' prices in Slovakia increased by 7.3 % compared to Q4 2019, while prices of new dwellings increased by 6,6 % and prices of used dwellings rose by 7.8 %, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic announced.

2020 was a channelling year for investors and asset managers but also a chance to lay a new foundation for tenant relationships. Vladimír Bolek, Portfolio Management, Member of the Board at IAD Investments talked to Property Forum about the effects of the pandemic and shared his investment strategy for 2021.