Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Monday, April 24, with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
SES shopping malls exceeds €3 billion turnover for the first time
SES shopping malls proved extremely popular in 2022 and brick-and-mortar retailers regained a foothold. The gross sales turnover continued to grow in the past year. With sales up 18.5 percent and a €3.1 billion turnover.
SES manages a total of 30 major shopping destinations in six countries including 27 shopping malls, two retail parks and one managed shopping street covering 830,000 sqm of leased space in the Austrian, Slovenian, Croatian, Northern Italian, Hungarian and Czech markets.
“Alongside our retail partners, we focused again on our customers in 2022. We are also investing in on-site construction, focusing primarily on measures that significantly promote sustainability, especially energy efficiency, both of which are particularly relevant to our visitors”, said Christoph Andexlinger, CEO of SES Spar European Shopping Centers.
Retail property portfolio transaction closed in Poland
Avison Young represented a global investment manager in selling a portfolio of four retail facilities in Poland. The four retail facilities are located in the regional cities of Szczecin, Koszalin, Walbrzych, Strzegom, with a total area of about 15,000 sqm GLA. On legal matters, the seller was advised by Dentons.
All the facilities have a food operator of well-known discount chains – Lidl, Biedronka and Intermarche – as the main tenant. The buyer has plans to refresh some of the acquired assets and re-commercialize them.
“This transaction confirms that established retail formats, located in central, convenient locations, which can be acquired at attractive pricing, will continue to be the subject of transactions”, commented Michal Cwiklinski, Principal, Managing Director at Avison Young in Poland.
Savills IM adds €100 million residential portfolio to its European living platform
Savills Investment Management has entered into an agreement to acquire six fully let residential assets in Sweden for c. €100 million for its European Living platform. The seller of the assets was the Swedish listed developer and property company K2A Knaust & Andersson Fastigheter AB, and the deal was sourced off the market.
The portfolio of acquisitions is located in the university cities in Sweden and is built with a strong ESG profile. Savills IM was advised on the transaction by Roschier and the seller K2A will be retained as property manager for the portfolio.
Patrick Au Yeung, Senior Fund Manager, European Living, Savills Investment Management, commented: “We believe the time is now for the European residential sector. The fundamentals are robust, and the supply/demand imbalances are acute and likely to remain persistent.”
IWG opens new Regus office building in Szeged
IWG is opening a flexible workspace in Szeged as the demand for hybrid working rapidly accelerates. This opening is being delivered in partnership with Cédrus Liget, who chose the IWG flexible workspace platform and has entered into a management agreement with the Regus brand.
Szeged, the biggest city in the south part of Hungary is one of the fastest-growing regional locations. The building owners decided to invest in the IWG platform to maximise the return on their real estate space by capitalising on the rapidly expanding demand for hybrid working.
Mark Dixon, CEO & Founder of IWG, commented: “Our opening in Szeged comes at a time when more and more companies are discovering that flexible working boosts employee happiness and satisfaction while helping the environment.”