Eastnine has acquired the 46-storey office tower Warsaw Unit for €280 million from Ghelamco. The acquisition establishes Eastnine in Warsaw and marks the largest step to date on Eastnine’s journey to build a leading office property company in the fastest-growing part of Europe. The acquisition, which is the largest office transaction in Europe this year, increases profit from property management per share by 18 percent.
Warsaw Unit is a landmark office building located on Rondo Daszynskiego in the very heart of the rapidly developing city centre of Warsaw. The property measures 202 meters above ground and comprises 59,800 sqm of leasable area and 400 parking spaces, spread over 46 floors above ground and three below. Completed by Belgian developer Ghelamco in 2021, the building is of the highest technical quality and certified on the highest levels, including with BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Core v2 Platinum. The property is fully occupied with more than 20 tenants, including the headquarters of Polish insurance company Warta, and offices of Amazon, Stryker, Moderna, CBRE, and Panattoni. Annual rents amount to €18.0 million, with an average remaining lease term of 5.1 years.
The transaction was made through a company acquisition of the Polish company “Apollo Invest” sp. z o.o. The purchase price was based on an underlying property value of €280 million, with no deduction for deferred tax. The acquisition was financed with existing cash, a secured five-year green bank loan of €168 million from German and Vienna-based lenders Helaba and Erste Group in equal parts, and a separately communicated new issue of 8,760,684 new shares in Eastnine at long-term Net Asset Value (NAV) per share to the seller, Warsaw Unit NV, a subsidiary of the Ghelamco Group.
“I can hardly imagine a better way for us to enter the Warsaw market than by acquiring a top property in the best location that Warsaw Unit represents. We are very grateful to Ghelamco, which not only developed this fantastic landmark changing Warsaw’s skyline, but also joined us as a shareholder. The acquisition of Warsaw Unit is a very important milestone on our growth journey, not only by entering the capital city of Europe’s fastest-growing economy, but also significantly boosting our earnings,” says Eastnine’s CEO Kestutis Sasnauskas. ”Following the acquisition, Poland is our largest market, accounting for more than 50 percent of our property portfolio.”
“Warsaw UNIT sets the highest standards in the Polish and European office market. It is an office icon of the capital, which, in terms of the quality of the working environment and sustainable solutions, not only matches the best Western European developments, but in many respects surpasses them. We are very pleased that this was appreciated by our partners at Eastnine, for whom these aspects are very important when building an office portfolio. We congratulate them on their choice and are confident that Warsaw UNIT is in the right hands, ensuring that it will remain among the best and most prestigious office addresses in Warsaw,” says Jarosław Zagórski, Managing Director, Ghelamco Poland.
