108 AGENCY announced it has purchased 100 percent of the shares of BNP Paribas Real Estate APM CR s.r.o., the Czech subsidiary of BNP Paribas Real Estate. 108 AGENCY was retained as preferred buyer after a competitive auction and immediately becomes the alliance partner of BNP Paribas Real Estate in the Czech Republic.
This transition enables BNP Paribas Real Estate to pursue the strategic refocus of its geographical footprint to the main European markets and cities and transition smaller countries to trusted local partners as recently completed in Romania and Hungary. “This change ensures continuity of coverage and excellence of services towards our pan-European clients and demonstrates our ability to serve their local needs in the CEE region as part of multi-country mandates,” says Csongor Csukas, Head of International Property Management for BNP Paribas Real Estate.
“We are confident 108 AGENCY will help accelerate a dynamic pipeline and develop future cross-selling initiatives in advisory services. We are thankful to the teams for the outstanding professionalism and relentless efforts shown during this transitory period. After successfully adapting our presence in Romania, Hungary and Czech Republic via trusted local partnerships, we will now be directly supporting our platform in Poland. We look forward to solid prospects in the CEE region within our ambitious development plan,” adds Laurent Boucher, Deputy CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate in charge of advisory services in France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Benelux and Eastern Europe.
“We have been approached with this investment opportunity as part of a competitive process launched by BNP Paribas Real Estate over the summer and recognized this to be a great opportunity for us to further extend our service offering and share on the local market. The discussions with BNP Paribas Real Estate and its local teams in the Czech Republic were led in a very professional manner throughout the process. We are extremely happy that 108 AGENCY has finally been retained as the most credible and solid partner for BNP Paribas Real Estate in the Czech Republic and look forward to our collaboration,” adds Robert Sgariboldi, Head of Industrial Agency and CFO, who led the overall process and deal execution for 108 AGENCY.
108 AGENCY has a long-term focus on enlarging its scope of services and extending its presence within CEE as well as towards the international environment and global client base. Jakub Holec, CEO of 108 AGENCY explains: “After a very successful launch of our office in Hungary in the middle of the pandemic last year we are happy that we were able to succeed also in this strategic acquisition, which will further strengthen our presence and service portfolio in the Czech Republic. Our ambition is to maintain and further improve our market position as one of the industry leaders and we see a huge cross-selling opportunity by embarking on this journey together with such a recognized partner as BNP Paribas Real Estate. After completion of the integration of the two businesses we are eager to pursue further strategic growth by additional acquisitions of targets providing complementing services in countries with our existing presence or the extend our geographical presence towards SEE.”
The change of ownership becomes effective as of December 15th 2021 and the integration process has commenced immediately following the completion of the transaction. The company will soon be renamed 108 Real Estate APM CR s.r.o. No financial details will be disclosed. Full integration of the business is expected to be completed by the first half of 2022.
The combined organisation will aim to improve services for existing clients and potential prospects across the full spectrum of services in commercial real estate, such as Industrial and Office Advisory or Capital Markets as well as Property Management and Accounting services. Havel & Partners acted as legal advisors to 108 AGENCY, while BNP Paribas Real Estate was advised by White & Case.
