Briefs

HVB Group buys Euromarket Office Centre in Kraków

The German HVB Group has bought the Euromarket Office Centre in Kraków, southern Poland, for around EUR 23.9 mln, which represents the city's first institutional investment deal. The class A, five-storey building, which was completed in April 2000, includes Motorola, Fortis Bank Polska and BP as its tenants.
The group's Central European Real Estate Investment Fund, now owns nine properties in the Central European region, of which the Renault building on ul. Marynarska in Warsaw is one. EUR 155 mln, of a total of EUR 168 mln, has so far been spent and the fund will be fully invested by the end of the year, involving two more acquisitions, one of which will be in Warsaw.
 

Rodamco Europe owner of half of Galeria Mokotów

Rodamco Europe has acquired 50 % of developer Globe Trade Centre's stake in the company which owns Galeria Mokotów shopping centre in Warsaw. This is Dutch firm Rodamco's second transaction on the Polish market, the first having been its purchase of a 50% stake in ING Real Estate's Złote Tarasy multifunctional project in Warsaw.
Construction of Galeria Mokotów - considered one of the most successful shopping centres in Poland - was divided into two phases. The first, of 48,000 sqm, was completed in September 2000 and the second, of 11,000 sqm,  early October 2002.

Consortium acquires shopping malls

A Consortium consisting of GE Capital Real Estate, a division of GE Commercial Finance, and Heitman Central Europe Property partners, a Heitman-managed investment fund, in which GE controls a 38% equity have signed an agreement to take over thirteen shopping malls in Poland for more than EUR 200 mln.
Eleven malls will be acquired from Domy Towarowe casino, a real estate subsidiary of the Casino Group, and two more in Warsaw and Wrocław currently owned by Apsys and partner Fonciere Euris. Geant hypermarkets, owned by Casino, are the anchor tenants in all thirteen malls.
The transaction could well represent the beginning of a long-term relationship between the Consortium and Casino, in which the former will provide capital for the latter's Polish expansion plans.

Phare-funded border pass in Hrebenne

The European Union's Phare Cross Border Co-operation programme is to finance 75% of a project, to construct a border pass in Hrebenne on the Polish-Ukrainian border. The Polish government will provide the other twenty-five per cent of the PLN 100 mln, (EUR 24.8 mln), undertaking, which will be constructed by border pass operator Lubelski Zarząd Drogowych Przejść Granicznych, who are based in Chełm, eastern Poland.