Investors enter the limelight

Each year brings changes in real estate. Perhaps they are not always revolutionary but the emphasis is different every year. The last few years have been marked by the blossoming of the investment segment. Investors are no longer satisfied with single properties or even entire portfolios. Over the last dozen or so months there has been an extraordinary crop of acquisitions of real estate companies across the region. From small ones to some of the largest players, chief among them Echo Investment and TriGranit. The latter transaction is significant because last year the person who received our lifetime achievement award was Sándor Demján – the founder of the Hungarian developer. As is often the case with active people, he is not planning to rest on his laurels just yet, and so will be continuing his adventure in real estate under the Granit Management brand. The negotiations over the acquisition of the stake in Echo Investment held by the founder of the company, Michał Sołowow, were as unexpected as sudden bends in the road. Sołowow, who is famous for his love of rallying, provided plenty of twists and turns to keep the real estate world on the edge of its seats right until the end of the buy-out of the Kielce-based developer.

Award for whoever catches the quarry

But it will not be the sellers of properties who are up for the new statuette. It will go to whoever was the best at chasing and catching the quarry. However, the choice will not be simple. Apart from well-known players on the Central European investment market, new ones have emerged and they are hungry for success. Despite the fact that the H1 statistics were nothing to shout about, it is worth taking a look at what is happening between the lines of these graphs. A clash of seasoned players is being fought out, and not only between those from Germany or Anglo-Saxon funds. Properties and real estate companies in our region are also being targeted by players from the Middle East, East Asia and even South Africa. Local players are also becoming increasingly confident on the investment market. Their involvement is admittedly incomparable with what can be seen in Western Europe, but the increased activity of local investors is another factor that certainly cannot be dismissed.

Clear criteria

You will find out which of them wins on December 3rd, at the sixth Eurobuild Awards Gala at the Double Tree by Hilton Warsaw hotel. In order to make the jury’s choice as accurate as possible, we have decided to question candidates for the award extensively about those things investment experts usually don’t want to share with the world: the numbers. The jury will take into consideration the size of the portfolio, its quality and value, the involvement in the individual sectors of the real estate market – i.e. offices, shopping centres, warehouses, etc., and the value of transactions over the last year. But that’s not all. In order to reflect the significance of the winner for the real estate market in the region, we have also decided to include the acquisitions of real estate companies in this category. Without them the picture of the last dozen or so months would not be complete and in fact would be a very distorted one. The plans of Investors and the capital earmarked for investment in CEE real estate will also be thoroughly analysed.

As is the case with the other categories, companies will have to convince a jury of professionals. Each category will be assessed by its own jury. The list of jury members is open and published on the www.eurobuildawards.com website. Every year the jury comprises around 200 experts, who make their decisions not only based on the projects entered but also based on their knowledge of the market. We invite experts who have in-depth knowledge of a given sector or category to register as jurors. We would like the candidates to send in their CVs including photos and choose a category for voting on, but excluding the category they work in. The main condition for qualifying for the jury is management experience as a director or in a higher position and broad knowledge of a specific category. The jury is large and there is no limit in terms of the number of jury members in each category. The single restriction is that only one representative of a given company may participate in the same category.

Final countdown

The voting will take place in electronic form and the jury members will never meet when making the decision. Independent consulting company KPMG will supervise the voting and will be the only party to know the results of the voting until the very last minute. “The Eurobuild Awards is a unique initiative, which has very quickly become a fixture in the calendar of the most important commercial real estate events. With its unique format for awarding the prizes, the first few Eurobuild Awards have been highly appreciated by those attending the award ceremony, its sponsors and partners as well as the entire market, thus confirming the need for such a project. The Eurobuild Awards, which is the sector’s most important event of the year, identifies the leaders, the main trends and the strongest aspects of the market,” says Katarzyna Matejuk, the director of the Eurobuild Awards project. Candidates in the competition can be nominated by their own companies and by third parties. If you believe that your company deserves this recognition from the market, do not lose the opportunity to compete in this important and prestigious event. Every year all the nominees are of a very high standard, so the competition remains exciting until the very end. The registration is open for companies operating on the Polish and CEE markets and for projects carried out in the period from November 2014 until October 2015 inclusive. Submissions should be made online on the www.eurobuildawards.com website by October 23rd 2015. Please scrutinise your candidacy registration thoroughly before submission, because changes cannot be approved by the organiser.