ECE to buy two Atrium malls

The sales price represents around a 3 pct premium on the book value of the assets as of March 2019. The completion of the transaction is planned for the third quarter of the year.

“The acquisition of the shopping centres in Lublin and Koszalin is part of our strategy to focus on dominant shopping centres in prime locations with a balanced tenant mix. The two centres have unique value-add opportunities in an increasingly polarised market for retail assets,” stated Volker Kraft, the CEO of ECE Real Estate Partners.

ECE will also take over the management and leasing of both centres with the company’s portfolio of assets under management in Poland increasing in number to ten. ECE’s second fund comprises a portfolio of nine shopping centres in Germany, Poland, Hungary and Italy and has a total market value of around EUR 1.5 bln.

Opened in March 2014, Atrium Felicity comprises 77,000 sqm gla with 120 stores, while Atrium Koszalin, which opened in November 2008, has 43,000 sqm gla with around 120 stores. The adjacent retail park in Koszalin is part of the transaction, comprising app. 15,000 sqm of leasable area and 1,500 parking spaces.

Liad Barzilai, the CEO of Atrium Group, claims that these disposals are a continuation of the company’s strategy to focus on higher quality assets in prime urban locations, that can deliver a stronger and more sustainable income over the long term. “Warsaw and Prague are central to this strategy due to their growing populations and very low unemployment. These are structural drivers that will support the growth of our assets. I am also very pleased that we were able to dispose of such a significant portfolio at a premium to book value. The proceeds will help us to continue to optimise our balance sheet and further the growth of our portfolio by concentrating on dominant retail centres in prime cities in our core markets,” says Liad Barzilai. Atrium was advised by JLL in the negotiations.

This transaction follows Atrium’s disposal of a plot in Gdańsk earlier this year for its book value of EUR 28 mln and its agreement to buy the King Cross Shopping Centre in Warsaw with around 7,000 sqm gla for EUR 43.1 mln, with this latter deal expected to be completed in the second quarter of the year. Since 2015, Atrium has acquired EUR 0.5 bln of prime assets and disposed of EUR 0.7 bln of assets in secondary and tertiary locations reducing its portfolio from 153 properties in seven countries to 32 high quality assets in four countries