Real estate investor and manager Cromwell Property Group (Cromwell) has, on behalf of Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT), completed the acquisition of a portfolio of 11 logistics and light industrial properties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for an aggregate purchase price of €113.2 million.
CEREIT’s acquisition is one of the largest deals of its type in the region and grows Cromwell’s real estate platform in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) specifically in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both markets are expected to benefit from further integration with neighbouring Western European economies with a forecast of 4 percent GDP growth in the Czech Republic and 5.3 percent in Slovakia in the next year.
Simon Garing, CEO of the Manager of CEREIT, commented, “We are pleased to be able to complete the acquisition of the portfolio, despite continued pandemic disruptions across Europe. Our current focus is on increasing our weighting towards the logistics and light industrial sector and this acquisition takes us to 38 percent. Importantly, CEREIT now also has a presence in two new attractive high-growth markets. I’d like to thank the transactions and asset management teams at our sponsor, Cromwell, as well as Robert and everyone at Arete for working positively to make this transaction happen.”
David Svoboda, Cromwell’s Head of Asset Management for the Czech Republic and Slovakia commented, “We have been active in the wider CEE region for ten years and are now successfully managing more than €1 billion in gross assets for a range of different capital partners. We are focused on ensuring a smooth handover from Arete, welcoming the tenant-customers to the Cromwell family and ensuring they receive the excellent service they are used to.”
Robert Ides, Arete Co-founder commented, “Working with Simon and the whole Cromwell team has been a pleasure, particularly on such a complex transaction while we are all still feeling the impacts of COVID-19. This is a clear sign of the professionalism of both teams and the similar values and focuses on the investors that we both share. It has been an honour to work together.”
The properties are all freehold, almost 100 percent occupied by 17 mostly logistics tenant-customers and featuring a long-weighted average lease expiry (“WALE”) of 6.2 years. They span more than 125,000 sqm of modern construction logistics and light industrial properties and are located in good micro-locations in established business parks with access to major transport links. The portfolio also features three assets with a total of approximately 140,700 sqm of land permitted for development.
